Highland Homes
Wayne, Pennsylvania

Description

• Replacement of 1930’s HUD housing project
• All new infrastructure
• 59 apartment rental units affordable for families
• Seven 3-story buildings
• Placed in service 2002
• Resident Community Room equipped with computers for residents

Developer
Pennrose Properties

Architect
The Knabb Partnership
Exton, PA

General Contractor
Harkins Builders, Inc.
Marriottsville, MD

Management
Delaware County Housing Authority

The Challenge

In response to a Delaware County Housing Authority request, Pennrose performed a housing assessment of a number of The Authority’s twelve Public Housing Projects. Highland Homes, a 1930s HUD housing project of fifty units in the affluent Philadelphia suburb of Wayne, was suffering from its age and therefore no longer met the needs of the County in providing quality low and moderate-income housing. The Pennrose assessment included a remediation plan that required zoning approvals from Radnor Township. It also included a creative financial plan that minimized The Authority’s capital outlay and leveraged other resources.

The Solution

To facilitate the Highland Homes redevelopment, Pennrose assembled a mixed finance package that included Low Income Tax Credits and other financial structures. This made possible the demolition of the existing archaic 50-unit housing project. Working very closely with the County, the Housing Authority, and Radnor Township, the development team navigated the zoning approval process, and designed and built a community that met the stakeholders’ very high standards. We constructed fifty one-two-three-and four-bedroom
rental apartments upon a completely new infrastructure of newly paved streets, storm water systems, utilities, sidewalks, lighting, landscaping, and rear-parking. Each of the three-story homes within the complex of seven buildings was affordable for families yet completely assimilated itself into the up-scale neighborhood. With a variety of floor plans (some of which were accessible), each unit included varied numbers of bedrooms and baths, a fully equipped kitchen, dining room, living room, washer and dryer hook-ups, and central heating and air conditioning. Placed in service in 2002, Pennrose delivered this development, which employed the latest in energy-saving building technologies, on-time and on-budget. It included a compute-equipped community room for meetings and supportive service programs.

The redevelopment of Highland Homes underscores the development team’s expertise in working with local Housing Authorities and Townships to provide quality affordable housing through the application of mixed finance solutions.

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