Brief Description

The Reserve at Packer Park was formerly a United States naval housing site, built in 1962 and abandoned in 1995 after the Cold War. The Capehart property, a designated ACT II site, housed nearly 400 naval families. Upon the Military Base Closing Act in 1995, the United States government deeded the 27 !/2 acre Brownfield property to the city of Philadelphia. In 2003, after other developers failed to follow through on the purchase of the site, the City sold the property to Westrum Development Company. The sale was based on Westrum's visionto transform the blighted site into a new home community of 230 market-rate luxury townhomes through the adaptive re-use of existing piles and foundations, infrastructure, and materials -as opposed to demolishing the 399 naval structures in their entirety.

The Reserve at Packer Park, located on 201'1 Street and Pattison Avenue in South Philadelphia, is within walking distance to a subway line and bus stop. FOR Park is located adjacent to the community and provides recreational outdoor activities year-round to residents of The Reserve. The surrounding area of this South Philadelphiacommunity remains a well-maintained, close knit residential neighborhood with long-time homeowners. These neighboring communities have continuously demonstrated support of the project. In fact, several homeowners at The Reserve grew up across the street in the original "Packer Park" community and many residents are family or friends of one another.

The success of The Reserve at Packer Park required a collaborative effort between Westrum Development Company and hand-selected outside consultants who are experts in their field. Consultants included Structural Engineers, Civil Engineers, a Pipe Services Company, Architects. Demolition Experts, a General Contractor, and Site Contractor. The notable consulting team was assembled and led by an experienced, in-house team of Land Development, Land Acquisition, Financial, Construction, and Marketing professionals.

To assist in funding the community, Westrum Development Company acquired a land loan from Citizens Bank for $20,630,000.00 and The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), a non-profit lender that assists blighted communities, provided a mezzanine for $3,005,000.00. With funding in place, Westrum Development Company settled on the development and construction loan through Citizens Bank in June 2003. The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (P1DC) donated the entire proceeds from the sale of the property [to Westrum Development] to various homeless organizations in Philadelphia. This contribution was made possible by the creative cost savings that resulted from recycling the site's materials. This cost reduction of over $ 8,000,000.00 enabled the project to be financially feasible.

The project was motivated by a developer who, after years as a suburban homebuilder, discovered a need for urban, market-rate housing; and felt by providing this housing option, the company's activities would be embraced. The Westrum team went further, seeking distressed properties that were ripe for reclamation. The community consists of colonial-style luxury townhomes, designed specifically to appeal to families. Residents enjoy modern amenities with efficient systems. The project includes a natural connection to open space through the creation of sizeable yards, tot lots, and several pocket parks, while only a few miles from Center City, Philadelphia. In addition, the developer ensured that the mature trees on the property remain intact with designated areas for open space.

The Reserve at Packer Park opened for sales in June of 2004 to several hundred people who were excited for the opportunity to purchase a newly constructed home in their beloved Packer Park neighborhood. Within six months, 64 homes sold. As of January 2007, all of the homes are sold and 230 residents call The Reserve home.

Sustainability Narrative

The Reserve at Packer Park is a high-quality, responsibly-designed, transit-oriented community that is sensitive to the surrounding environment. The project exemplifies how the adaptive re-use of a blighted urban property into a thriving new home community can improve the quality of life for the neighborhood by eliminating an eyesore while limiting demolition and construction waste.

To achieve success with this mission, the company implemented its Green Building program. "Westrum Green", through the following measures:

• Continuing to be on the cutting edge of innovative ideas to improve the quality in and around the homes. Westrum innovatively cleaned up and re-developed a Brownfield property, created a land plan that provided for open space, while utilizing the existing foundations of the original structures which resulted in less construction waste being sent to land fills.
• Conserving open space in the community to complement the natural surroundings. The project retained many of the site's mature trees and preserved open space throughout the property (tot lots, pocket parks, etc.), and also along the perimeter of the community -even curving the sidewalks to accommodate the larger trees.
• Preserving the natural resources through conservation, re-use of valuable city land through reclamation and restoration, and efficiency. The developer overcame numerous challenges by re-using the existing foundations, sanitary and sewer infrastructure (re-used or repaired using a trench-less technology), and masonry materials. Demolished concrete material was processed for construction purposes, turning the site into an urban quarry. Prior to demolition of the existing housing structures, asbestos clean-up and soil remediation was completed. These actions transformed an abandoned, unhealthy urban site into a viable residential housing community.

Results

Once a blighted abandoned naval housing Brownfield site, today the property is a newly constructed transit-oriented community. The Reserve at Packer Park provides modern, suburban-type housing at market-rate pricing in an established urban location that encourages outdoor recreation through a natural connection of open space throughout the property. The project has successfully fulfilled a community need while bringing a new vitality back to a South Philadelphia neighborhood.