New Homes Going Up in Chester Will Help to Stabilize the Neighborhood

Three new affordable housing units are being constructed on the former Detroit Apartments site in Chester

You can see the foundations for three new housing units on Concord Avenue, between 8th and 9th Streets in Chester, PA. Habitat for Humanity of Delaware County is behind the effort to take a vacant property that had become a destabilizing factor in the community and turn it into homes for those who might not otherwise be able to afford one.

More than $468,000 of HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program 1 funds was used to demolish the Detroit Apartments that used to be on this site and will fund the new construction of the three affordable housing units. There has already been significant neighborhood investment around the Detroit Apartment complex including the development of the Chester Upland School of the Arts directly across the street from the site of the new homes.

Artist rendering of the three Parker Place housing units

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the Chester Economic Development Authority and Habitat for Humanity of Delaware County are committed to this project. The new units are expected to be available in 2011 for eligible families. Architect David Brossart has donated his skills and talents and provided this artist rendering of what these homes will look like once they’re completed.

The City has taken great efforts to turn several parts of this community around in hopes that it will stimulate further growth, development and investment in and around the homes at Parker Place. Construction at Parker Place has created jobs and income for some local residents. HUD is proud to be a partner in the effort.