Southeast corner view at Germantown Ave. & Haines St. the historic Germantown Town Hall, slated to become the Germantown Townhall. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)

Last Thursday, April 16, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission (PCPC)  unanimously approved Property Bill 260242. The bill allows the transfer of the Germantown Town Hall to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID) for private redevelopment.

PCPC’s Nina Solomonic explained that the bill permits a portion of 5928–30 Germantown Avenue to be separately deeded as public property. The parcel currently includes two buildings: the 14th District police station on the left and the historic Germantown Town Hall on the right.

Both buildings will remain unchanged and are not affected by the bill.

Solomonic noted the prospect developer Anthony Fullard’s planned adaptive reuse with commercial and educational components. Last month, an Inquirer article revealed that YouthBuild will be the building’s anchor tenant.

Commissioner Chair Jesse Lawrence invited Fullard to speak about his timeline and commitments surrounding the project.

“We have a timeline that we have to meet that [YouthBuild wants] to be in that building by the third quarter of 2028. So we have to hit that date because that’s when they are looking to open up their school,” the developer said.

Fullard also talked a bit about the shift from the original plan, which would bring 50/50 mixed-use to the Town Hall, back to focus on its current plan.

He said, “That would not pencil…So we pivoted from that idea, and we were able to just focus on the Town Hall structure itself and then just go all commercial… We just want to get that building up so that the community, you know, can also, you know, have access to it.”

A few community members joined the hybrid meeting virtually and voiced concerns.

West Central Germantown Neighbors President Suzanne Ponsen told commissioners that Fullard has “tied up” the property under an MOU since 2022 and questioned his track record, citing the unfinished project at 122 E. Hortter St. in Mt. Airy, which she said he purchased around the same time.

Julie Stapleton Carroll, WCGN Vice President, requested protections against indefinite delay, saying the group is “deeply concerned” about the deed transfer without accountability measures.

She posed two protections: “First, a clear performance timeline with concrete milestones over the next two to three years. And second, a reversion clause so that if those milestones aren’t met, the ownership automatically returns to the city, and the property can go back out to bid.”

Solomonic explained that the current bill includes no sunset clause, so conveying the property back to the city in the same way would require new legislation. Commissioner Ximena Valle reiterated this constraint.

“We are not able to, in this session, suggest a recommendation for approval with that kind of modification,” said Commissioner Valle.

Ponsen and Allison Weiss of the SoLo Germantown Civic Association also raised concerns that the planned apartment complex could create unsafe traffic patterns, citing an unclear driveway layout, limited parking, two-way garage access, and shared use of the corridor by police vehicles.

Commissioner Lawrence noted that traffic and safety details are not fully worked out at this stage and would be reviewed during the future zoning permit and subdivision phases.

Fullard told commissioners and community members that the redevelopment would preserve the building’s historic character, focusing restoration on the original exterior and key interior details.

Fullard said Domus Construction, whose past work includes the Met and the Lorraine Hotel, would serve as general contractor, while Commissioner Ximena Valle said the project team has strong historic-preservation experience. She also noted that the Historic Commission would closely oversee the work.

Rasheed Z. Ajamu is a Germantown-born and raised Black journalist, reporting from a place-based lens to see how things affect life in Germantown. They strive to preserve the stories of Black natives in an ever-changing Philadelphia and Germantown social landscape.