[quote=amythatch] The Bank Building on Frankford was sold. In part to fund the Art Holiday venture. It sold to a community based drug/alcohol/get-people-better-situated-to-life rehab. I've heard that this rehab place is among the better ones in the city and they own and operate others- a well-thought-of business in Northern Liberties for instance.
The owners made a profit and presumably used that money for the Art Holiday venture. But you know, that bank uilding is DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM A PULIC LIBRARY.
Oh yeah, they care about Frankford.[quote=amythatch]

Is this true? Did this investment group buy the Third Federal and then flip it fast for a Drug Rehab and profit that quick? On Frankford Avenue across from the library?
If so, what's up with that? I thought things were really improving and moving along on a commercial basis for the Avenue. This can't be right - is it?

I don't know when the rehab is to open. But it is coming. It's a shame. Explotation on the area continues..... low enough on the radar that no one really knows about such a place opening until it's too late!

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Many a woman has a past, but I am told she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit. - Oscar Wilde

Amy, how did this get past a zoning hearing? It seems that the just when you think things are going in a positive direction to bring back the commercial dignity of the Avenue things go south.
Once a group gets a grip on the area they will wine and dine local politicians, the media and organizations to get them in their corner. At first it may seem altruistic and going well, but sooner or later it always comes down to too many favors for too few.
I would contact the local councilperson (however, it's probably already a done deal with the councilperson already somehow reeled in), but it wouldn't hurt to find out if there is a zoning hearing coming up on this. If the local civic, business and councilpersons office have already been swayed - there really isn't anything much to do. It's unfortunate, but it seems it was a well thought out process and did slide in low on the radar. This has happened time and time again in Frankford.
If it were a couple of years ago, it would appear like a Frankford CDC play, but how much influence do they have in the area these days?
There probably isn't much you can do at this point. You'll find that in Frankford you'll just expend tremendous amounts of energy and try to make sense of things, but it's just a matter of those that hold the purse strings and work their way into the thread of the "powers that be" and have them "swooning" over what appears to be "the good of the neighborhood" somehow get side tracked and make boo-boos that at some point in the future they will look back and see this is where they started to go wrong. Just a matter of "you don't know what you have 'till it's gone"
Let's hope for the best.

I had a conversation with a long time Frankford resident about that building a couple months ago. If I remember correctly, the Frankford CDC owned that building. They sold it to Jim McCarthy, the developer who owns the building that Mozaic rents and who also converted a flop house into artist lofts on Gillingham Street.

There's more information on him here.
http://www.northeasttimes.com/2006/1019/frankford.html


I haven't heard anything about him selling it, or selling it to a drug rehab organization. It wouldn't surprise me if it's happening. Personally, I can deal with a drug rehab center if it gets Frankford a performing arts venue. Especially if it pushes an ignoble porn theater into neighborhood history.

I can't fathom this guy investing time and energy into his buildings just to sell them out. If he did sell it, I think he believes it's a good move in the long term for Frankford.

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I hear what you're saying. I too, am very happy about the possibilities opening up for the area with the advent of a performing arts center. My concern is this; why a drug rehab? Wouldn't there be another sort of business they could sell to? I'd love it if anyone could shed some light on this.

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Many a woman has a past, but I am told she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit. - Oscar Wilde

It is a rehab I think it's called new horizons,something like a halfway house !!!!! I heard it at some meeting acouple of months ago!!!

Oh, great. A half-way house directly across from the public library. Just what the neighorhood needs. This make me sick.

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Many a woman has a past, but I am told she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit. - Oscar Wilde

Amy, I've been hearing about it and a lot of people can't believe it. New Horizons from what I understand has done a lot of good, but most agree that having it directly on Frankford Avenue and across from the library is truly poor judgement. It just doesn't help with the idea of "bringing back the shopping area" (which is what frankford ave was always for)
It's hard to believe that the guy who has these investment groups working with him and has put alot into that little restaurant and stuff would have worked this deal? Maybe it's just a rental thing or something and if people talk to him and it isn't a "done deal" they can arrange something else off of the ave.
It's got a lot of people scratching thier heads. Maybe there's more to the story or it's not written in stone yet.

See, this is what I mean from all the news stories it doesn't make sense that the guy would go for this or the other people in the area that are investing in turning it around, maybe the building is just going to be offices for administrative offices for the rehab or something like that? Maybe?

[from northeast times] Jim McCarthy is doing his best to make Frankford’s turnaround arrive sooner than later. Two years ago, the contractor/developer purchased a property at Frankford Avenue and Gillingham Street that was basically a flop house. He cleaned it out, refurbished it, and today it’s home to the avenue’s newest restaurant, mozaic.
In fact, many a merchant is looking to owner Joan Oliveto’s jazz restaurant as a beacon of hope for the neighborhood shopping district. Gil Pons, owner of Gilbert’s Antique Gallery, recently called it the "last wind in the sail" for Frankford’s struggling business corridor.
Megan Forrestal, president of the Frankford Business and Professional Association, says mozaic not only fills a void for the community, in terms of entertainment and a sit-down restaurant, but for the business community as well.
"We had to go out of the area for a business lunch. Things like that are going to spark other businesses," Forrestal said.
McCarthy first came to Frankford after reading about Kevin Phelan’s Art Place, a gallery that was the keystone for an arts movement on the avenue in the late 1990s. Phelan closed his shop and left Frankford in 2003, but the arts concept inspired the developer.
McCarthy carried that through at a brick building adjacent to mozaic, at 1528 Gillingham St., with three living/workspace studios for artists and his own offices downstairs. He used city facade grants to help with restoration of the building’s historic cornice windows.
The developer will also take advantage of other city incentives as he rehabs the now-decrepit Roxy building across the street, along with other properties on that block.
Facade grants offering rebates of up to $5,000 or $10,000, depending on whether a property has a single address or multiple addresses, are available, explained Mike Kowalski, of the Mayor’s Business Action Team, a city agency that assists and supports businesses under the umbrella of the Commerce Department.
Contrary to popular belief, tax abatements aren’t extended just for new construction in the city. There are also 10-year tax breaks on renovations and improvements to a property, as well as tax-credit incentives for bringing businesses to the city, Kowalski said.
McCarthy already has a few tenants lined up for the Frankford Avenue properties, including a coffee shop. An accounting firm will move into an adjacent property in November. Frankford Family Services also is housed in one of McCarthy’s properties.
"More than anything else," McCarthy said, "I believe Frankford is going to turn around."

According to Kowalski, what helped the comebacks of Manayunk and Chestnut Hill was that, in both cases, a person or two controlled enough real estate to get things going.
While McCarthy doesn’t have the market cornered in Frankford, he is definitely "creating a node," Kowalski said.
Brothers and master craftsmen Matt and Ian Pappajohn are looking to create a node of their own off the Avenue. They rehabbed the old H. Riehl and Sons warehouse at 4355 Orchard St. and moved their fine-woodworking business to it in January 2003.
The building also houses artists and artisans. [from northeast times]

You are correct, it doesn't make sense that someone 'devoted' to Frankford would sell a building on the Ave to a rehab center. How did this happen??

Is there anything we can do to stop this? I don't care who sold it or what their name is or if they are 'devoted' or not.

What is NOT going to be written about in the Northeast Times is how the librarians across the street and their patrons will have to put up with the consequences of a rehab/halfway house within spitting distance!!

Does anyone remember the story of the little Asian girl assaulted in the public library restroom at 7th and Market and left for dead behind the toilet?!

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Many a woman has a past, but I am told she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit. - Oscar Wilde