Calls for more transparency in sale of Provident building at 4601 Market

Residents criticized developers and city officials for a lack of transparency in the proposal to convert the city-owned Provident Mutual Life Insurance Co. building and surrounding land at 46^th and Market into a campus focused on mental health services and child care during a public meeting on Tuesday night.

About 125 residents gathered in the auditorium of West Philadelphia High School at 49^th and Chestnut for presentations from the developers, a city official handling the deal, and proposed tenants, which include the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and the YMCA.

The city chose that plan earlier this year after a call for proposals. The call came after a long-anticipated plan proposed by former mayor Michael Nutter to move the police headquarters and related offices to the 13-acre site was scuttled by Mayor Jim Kenney, Nutter’s successor. The police headquarters, the Medical Examiner’s office and the 6th and 9th police districts will now move into the old Philadelphia Inquirer building at 400 N. Broad St..

That change and the city’s subsequent choice of this new proposal caught many residents off guard.

“People aren’t mad, they’re just tired of hearing a lot of things that they didn’t have any say in,” said one resident. “The process is defective.” 

The city has spent just over $50 million to purchase and renovate the Provident site. Under the current proposal, it would sell it for $10 million.

Dominique Casmir, deputy commissioner of Real Estate Management for the city, told residents that the city would recoup much of the costs through the sale of two other city properties as part of the move, including the 6th police district building, along with projected property, sales and wage taxes generated by the Provident project.

She also stressed that the deal has not been finalized.

“The city has not signed off,” she said. “This is a proposal that is being brought forward to the community.”

The proposal would create a partnership between Philadelphia-based commercial developers Iron Stone Real Estate Partners and the Public Health Management Corp. to build and run the site.

PHMC would run three programs, including a federally funded health center that will provide primary care and dental services, a public health office and a 20- to 30-bed overnight site. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) plans to operate a children’s mental health services center from the site and the YMCA is interested in opening a large (some 120 children) pre-school facility. The proposal also includes some retail.

The proposal includes provisions for local hiring for both the construction and staffing of the facilities and is expected to generate some 1,000 jobs, 60 percent of which are earmarked for minority hires.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, whose district includes the Provident site, called Tuesday’s meeting after publicly voicing frustration with the way the proposal had been handled. The city’s system of “councilmanic prerogative” gives council members some say over city property sold in their districts. An ordinance still needs to pass through City Council because the property is owned by the city.