The Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood of Point Breeze has been experiencing a frenzied pace of development over the past few years, with much of it arriving in the form of new construction units and rehabs from local developer Ori Feibush and his
OCF Realty firm.
No stranger to community organization turf wars, the area has long been served by the
South Philadelphia HOMES Inc.; Feibush launched his own organization, the Point Breeze CDC, in late 2013.
According to the CDC's executive director, Barbara Kelley, "[A lot of] what we're doing right now is supplementing the other agencies' services, and giving referrals to different agencies, like
Diversified and
Legal Aid."
The CDC is also working closing with the
Point Breeze Avenue Business Association. And at some point "very soon," the office will install a sign featuring its new logo, which was designed by a neighborhood art student after a recent logo design contest.
Along with a few neighborhood music producers and area children, Kelley is also helping to develop an official Point Breeze song. The lyrics, she says, will consist of residents' thoughts and impressions about the neighborhood.
In other Point Breeze development news, OCF Realty recently broke ground on a 22 single-family home project on the 1300 block of Chadwick Street designed by
YCH Architect LLC. OCF plans to donate $1,000 to Neighbors Investing in Childs Elementary (
NICE) for each unit sold by an OCF Realtor.
"What we're noticing is that people leave the city after they have kids, and they come back when they're empty-nesters," says OCF's Alexandra Calukovic. Feibush's idea, she says, involves "donating to make a real impact in the community, instead of just donating to donate. And his thought process was that starts with schools."
Writer: Dan Eldridge
Source: Barbara Kelley, Point Breeze CDC; Alexandra Calukovic, OCF Realty