Sharswood • Blumberg
Aerial view of part of the Sharswood target area
Where: North Philadelphia
Sharswood/Blumberg is another example of PHA’s ability to combine housing investments with a neighborhood revitalization strategy. The main goal is to transform distressed housing and vacant land into mixed-income housing that is more energy efficient, walkable, and connected to the community.
Read more about Sharswood/Blumberg Project
The focus is an eight-acre city block site that includes PHA’s Norman Blumberg Apartments, three 18-story towers totaling 510 apartments, and the adjacent Sharswood neighborhood that is being redeveloped to include 1,216 rental apartments and 264 homeownership units. Built in the 1960s, the Blumberg public housing units were initially part of an economic upturn in the area, but became a symbol of crime, poverty and disinvestment in the 1980s and 1990s when the city lost population and businesses closed as a result.
As a first step, PHA rehabilitated Blumberg Senior Tower and renamed it Sharswood Tower. The renovated 13-story building now features 94 affordable apartments for seniors. In addition, PHA converted all residents to project-based Section 8 vouchers. This conversion helped PHA secure financing for the $28 million renovation.
The two other towers were subsequently razed and PHA has replaced these homes with smaller-scale affordable rental and homeownership developments on the site and throughout the neighborhood as part of a 10-year $500 million revitalization plan. The new and replacement housing is being built on land the PHA acquired through the purchase of 1,300 vacant or blighted parcels in the neighborhood. The project is well underway with all 1,480 units completed or scheduled to be under construction in FY 2026.
A key part of the financing for this initiative was PHA securing a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This has helped leverage an additional $517 million in private and public investments so far, including $143 million through the award of federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits.
Additional neighborhood investments include a new high school, a grocery store, the Vaux Community Building that houses PHA’s workforce center, and numerous other programs and services. PHA has also constructed its new headquarters on Ridge Avenue, one of the neighborhood’s main business corridors.
New energy-efficient townhomes are part of the Sharswood Blumberg project
