Invest

As the cornerstone of our core mission, PIDC invests in high-impact community revitalization projects that create good jobs, provide essential goods and services, and stimulate additional investment in our neighborhoods.

$582M

Invested

Transactions

$40.4M

Real Estate Finance

$512M

Tax Exempt Bonds

Grants

PIDC Real Estate Finance

In 2020, PIDC invested $40M through 16 loans in catalytic projects in neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia. Here are a few transformational projects with PIDC investments.

New Markets Tax Credit Allocation Deployed

Sharswood Ridge

In October 2020, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for Sharswood Ridge. Located at 2077 Ridge Avenue in the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Sharswood, the project is a 234,000-square-foot mixed-use development that will consist of 45,000 square feet of retail space, including a grocery store, an urgent care center, and other community-serving retail. The project will also include 98 mixed-income residential units. Sharswood Ridge will assist the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) in its ongoing Sharswood/Blumberg Choice Neighborhood Initiative, a comprehensive neighborhood transformation plan designed to elevate the quality of life for local residents through improved housing, local job creation, neighborhood-serving retail, commercial services, and public green space. The project developer, Sharswood Partners, LLC, is a partnership between PIDC clients Mosaic Development Partners and SHIFT Capital, two Philadelphia-based community-focused developers committed to delivering social impact in under-invested and marginalized urban neighborhoods.

As a model example of creative public-private partnerships, the project received a mix of federal, state, local, and private funding. Funding included New Markets Tax Credits provided by PIDC and Commonwealth Cornerstone Group that were purchased by Capital One Bank, a PA Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant, a PA Multimodal Transportation Fund grant, Opportunity Zone Fund capital, as well as PIDC, PHA and Fulton Bank loans. Watch the groundbreaking ceremony.

Cobbs Creek Commons

PIDC helped fund the acquisition and renovation of a 37,848-square-foot commercial building at 100 N 63rd St. in West Philadelphia into a space for growing MBE companies. PIDC funding enabled the owner of American Power Electrical Supply, a full-service, full-line MBE electrical supply wholesale and retail company, to purchase the space it had been renting and to complete needed capital improvements. Other occupants include Pride Enterprises, a minority business enterprise (MBE) construction contractor; Team Clean, an MBE/WBE commercial janitorial services company; and a community church. The project received funding from PIDC’s Impact Development Fund, an innovative loan program capitalized with New Markets Tax Credits. With low-cost, flexible loan terms, the Impact Development Fund provides capital for neighborhood-based development, driving revitalization in under-invested urban neighborhoods that are often overlooked by traditional lenders. PIDC also provided an additional loan facility – a Commercial Mortgage Loan – to complete the financing. The funding of this project closes out PIDC’s 2nd Impact Development Fund totaling $5M. In total, our two Impact Development Fund allocations have invested $11M in eight projects across Philadelphia with funds raised from US Bank and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

The Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia

With the help of New Markets Tax Credits from PIDC and Capital One Bank, The Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia is creating the Ralph J. Roberts Boys & Girls Club in Germantown. The project will transform the entire interior of the existing structure into a modern 64,405 square foot facility while maintaining the exterior as is to preserve the historic appearance and nature of the building. The 100+ year old youth-serving nonprofit organization provides employment, recreation, leadership, arts education, and healthy meals to low-income youth.

Tax-Exempt Bonds

In 2020, PIDC facilitated approximately $512M in tax-exempt bond transactions on behalf of 16 entities, which included charter schools, affordable housing, nonprofit organizations, and the City of Philadelphia.

Parkside Neighborhood Preservation

Parkside Neighborhood Preservation is a historic preservation project of 82 apartments near Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. Mission First originally developed the 16 historic buildings into apartments in 2002, taking care to restore the historical integrity of the exteriors. The renovation of the Parkside buildings will build upon other recent community investments along this corridor. This preservation will ensure these apartments remain affordable and accessible to current and future residents.

Mission First had the support of many financing partners who helped to make this project possible. Funding sources include 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits, syndicated by R4 Capital; Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) funds from PHFA, Historic Tax Credits, Tax Exempt Bond Financing issued by PIDC, a construction loan from Citibank, and a loan from the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC).

Image by Parkside Historic Preservation Corporation

Grants Administration

PIDC administered 30 grants totaling nearly $30M for stormwater and capital projects on behalf of the Philadelphia Water Department.

Pier 98 Annex

The auto storage facility known as Pier 98 Annex was awarded a Stormwater Management Implementation Program (SMIP) Grant. This parking lot provides auto staging for the import and export of new automobiles from the port of Philadelphia on the Delaware River. The stormwater project involved the construction of four underground detention basins totaling more than 227,000 cubic feet. The completed project captures 42.5 acres of asphalt area and detains rainwater runoff prior to entering the Philadelphia Water Department system.

320 Oregon Avenue

Trans-Pacific Engineering Corporation has designed and managed construction for the installation of four underground stormwater management systems to collect and manage runoff from 4.7 acres of impervious area (buildings, parking lot, sidewalks, etc.) at 320 Oregon Ave. The goal of the project is to manage almost 100% of the impervious area by capturing and detaining the stormwater runoff in four separate underground basins. The implementation of this program has saved the property owner more than $15,000 annually in Stormwater Management System fees and will detain approximately 165,000 gallons of runoff from the sewer system during each rainfall that exceeds 1.5 inches.

Our final core strategy:

CATALYZE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH

We are Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation. PIDC spurs investments that create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, and drive growth to every corner of Philadelphia. PIDC is a non-profit founded by the City of Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce in 1958.