SHIFT Capital, a nationally recognized neighborhood investment company, and The Wankawala Organization, a hotel development and management company, in partnership with the Broad-Germantown-Erie Collaborative (BGEC), a coalition of community groups serving the communities around the intersection of Broad Street, Germantown Avenue and Erie Avenue, announces the signing of a Community Benefits Agreement for the redevelopment of the Beury Building in Philadelphia’s Hunting Park neighborhood at 3701 North Broad Street.
SHIFT and The Wankawala Organization are planning to transform the legendary Beury Building into a full-service hotel with 172 guest rooms, a ground-level restaurant and café, a rooftop garden and restaurant, a fitness center, and meeting spaces.
SHIFT, The Wankawala Organization, and BGEC coalition members – Called to Serve CDC, Nicetown Tioga Improvement Team, Hunting Park United, Hunting Park CRC/NAC, Nicetown Community Development Corporation, and North10, Philadelphia, with legal guidance and advice provided by Regional Housing Legal Services – partnered to create a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that prioritizes community-centered goals, local hiring and training, and neighborhood safety and beautification.
The CBA sets goals for:
- Hiring local and Minority Business Enterprises and Women Business Enterprises for temporary and permanent jobs.
- Establishing a BGEC jobs coordinator who will refer local and minority applicants to open positions, job fairs, postings.
- Assembling job training and apprenticeship initiatives for neighborhood residents.
- Leasing space to businesses that are local and/or who will prioritize residents for permanent jobs.
- Providing consistent safety and security measures around the site.
- Participating in neighborhood cleanups and providing site beautification and maintenance.
The signing of the CBA for the hotel at the Beury Building joins the CBA signed by the community and SHIFT for its next door project, The Residences at the Beury, a 101,000-square-foot mixed-use complex. These developments are crucial pieces to the growth of the Hunting Park neighborhood and to local workforce development where 14.7%* of the local population in the Hunting Park neighborhood is unemployed, and the median household income is around $27,000**.
*Source: American Community Survey 2021 Employment Status
**Source: American Community Survey, calculated based on earnings in the past 12 months (in 2021 inflation-adjusted dollars)
“With the signing of the CBA for the hotel at the Beury Building and the one for the Residences, we continue to strengthen SHIFT’s commitment to the community,” says Alex Robles, SHIFT Capital’s Developer-in-Residence. “These partnership agreements create a full block of neighborhood equitable development with a focus on local hiring and employment initiatives vital to the community.”
“BGEC is a collaborative committed to the goal of ensuring the neighborhoods at and immediately around the intersection of Broad, Germantown, and Erie Avenues in North Philadelphia become healthy neighborhoods where current residents can prosper and thrive,” says Josh Klaris, Executive Direction of North10, Philadelphia. “With this CBA, we believe we’ve found true partners in SHIFT Capital and The Wankawala Organization and are excited to be able to include them in our collective effort to bring necessary improvements to the area without displacing those who have lived here for generations.”
“Making the communities where we have hotels and restaurants a better place to live, work and play is one of the core beliefs of The Wankawala Organization,” says Mihir Wankawala, Managing Member of The Wankawala Organization. “By creating this partnership, we are providing opportunities to those individuals who want to make hospitality a career. We aim to hire individuals and give them the tools to develop the necessary skills that they need to reach their goals.”
“After many years of meetings and collaborations for the development of the Beury Building, the site is now set to become something that will reignite the pride our community once had,” adds Cynthia Barnes, Kim Niemela, Charmaine Sudler Milligan, and Grace Tang, representatives of the Nicetown Tioga Improvement Team and The Friends of the Williams Moore Reed Memorial Park. “For decades, the building was a graffiti-marked eyesore representing vacant properties and others preconceived notions of empathy and ideas about the neighborhood. With these 2 new projects, we see a catalyst for future growth that will bring the pride back to our community.”
