Located just east of Philadelphia's upscale Fairmount neighborhood, and just north of Spring Garden, the small North Philly district of Francisville is probably best known locally for its extreme economic diversity. And now, two of the organizations that have been most active in changing and improving the face of the neighborhood--a nonprofit developer known as
Community Ventures, and the
Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation--have teamed up to create the 44-unit
Francisville East, an affordable housing development with a stunning aesthetic sensibility that belies its status as a low-income development.
Outsiders who visit the neighborhood, in fact, often mistakenly assume that Francisville East is an example of the gentrification taking place there. "It's kind of interesting," says Community Venture's David LaFontaine, with a chuckle. "(One of the TV networks) did a news report on Francisville, and they kept taping our building. But they were referring to all the economic changes and the gentrification. It is a really nice building," he adds. "It's the most attractive thing being built. But it's not actually gentrification."
Not even close. Residents of Francisville East, in fact, earn somewhere between 20 and 60 percent of the area's median income. And the project's apartment building, which is home to 27 one-bedroom units, was built specifically with senior citizens and the handicapped in mind. Still, the decidedly modern development, which sits on the 1500 block of Poplar Street, and on a lot that was previously trash-strewn and filled the detritus of construction equipment, also features a small garden, permeable sidewalks, solar panels, and off-street parking.
"The neat part," LaFontaine adds, "is that we sort of tackled the worst block in the neighborhood. It was sort of the epicenter of blight in
Francisville. And we got rid of it."
Source: David LaFontaine, Community Ventures
Writer: Dan Eldridge
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