U. program renovates homes, area

Penn's effort to buy and rehab area houses is playing a role in revitalizing West Philadelphia. Place one run-down, deserted house in a solid residential neighborhood and the entire block can wave goodbye to its real estate valuation, according to Diane-Louise Wormley, Penn's managing director of community housing. To combat the problem, the University has purchased 13 dilapidated properties throughout University City -- except for Powelton Village -- to renovate. The program -- called the Single Family Rehabilitation Program -- has renovated and sold five properties, is currently renovating six properties and has three other properties awaiting construction. "It's given the neighbors encouragement. Their property values will no longer be dropping," said Wormley, who said she has received e-mails and phone calls of thanks from neighbors of some of the houses renovated by the program. University administration expect the program's million-dollar budget to replenish itself at least in part from the sale of the completed houses so that another set of can be renovated. The next cycle will begin as soon as the first 13 houses are sold, Wormley said. The University is currently looking into 40 possible properties for the next round of renovations, between five and 15 of which will be renovated depending on property and renovation costs. "Next year at this time I hope these [properties] are gone and that we have very happy homeowners in them," said Wormley. The University buys the properties, which span a wide range of prices and sizes, through a private buyer-broker. The first cycle properties ranged in price from $10,000 to $50,000 and were obtained through several methods, including directly from the owners and through sales of property seized by the Sheriff's Department. "It affects the acquisition costs [if] somebody says 'Oh, the University's out there buying,'" Wormley said of the use of a private broker. "Maybe [they] would have been willing to sell it for $30,000, now [they're] going to sell it for $100,000." Renovation costs ranged from $90,000 to $300,000, according to Wormley. She said that the $300,000 renovation was on a particularly large house, and that the average cost of renovations is between $100,000 and $150,000. "It's not economically viable for an individual homeowner to come in and do the necessary work," said Gerard McCartney, executive director of Wharton's computer and information technology. McCartney lives next to one of the rehabilitated houses. But Liesa Baker, who worked for 40 years at the University's medical school, managed to do just that, renovating a house neighboring her property while the University renovated the house on the other side. Using $20,000 collected from her neighbors, a matching amount in a non-interest accruing loan from the University and her own funds, Baker transformed a property that had been vacant except for "druggies and squatters" for about 20 years. Of the five houses that have been sold, four were bought by University staff who also took advantage of Penn's housing incentive program which provides loans to faculty and staff moving into University City. University employees who purchase properties in West Philadelphia receive loans of either $15,000 up front or $3,000 a year for seven years to help with renovation and purchasing costs. The loans are forgiven if the borrower lives in the house for seven years. The University has a similar program for employees who are already homeowners, providing grants of up to $7,000 for exterior repairs.