In terms of making this possible, it helps that the public housing in question has the look and feel of a modern, suburban, middle-class neighborhood.
"I must say that I was skeptical that the mix would work," said Arthur McDowell, president of the East Falls Community Council. "I wondered why people who could pay big money for a house would want to live next to public housing.
"But the public housing they're going to be living next to isn't the public housing that used to be. And the site is a very nice location."
Hilltop at Falls Ridge, a project of Westrum Development Co., is rising on 16.7 acres off Ridge Avenue west of Merrick Road, on a tract Westrum bought from the Philadelphia Housing Authority last year for $3.1 million.
The development consists of "stacked" townhouses, for sale in the $300,000s, as well as full-fledged townhouses, the largest of which are listed in the $700,000 range. In addition, there will be six small "workforce" units, reserved for buyers of limited means.
It could be two or three years before all of the 128 homes planned for Hilltop are built, said Westrum chief executive officer John Westrum, with the pace of construction dependent on the pace of sales. So far, he said, 15 units have been sold.
Right now, the site contains one block of stacked townhouses, half-built, and a strip of four-story townhouses, all but finished and directly overlooking the PHA site.
"For some people, living next to subsidized housing is a nonstarter," Westrum said. "And if it was the old PHA brick barracks over there, we would never have been able to do what we've done.
"But when people see how attractive the PHA housing is, and when we tell them about the qualifications to get in there, most are very accepting. We're excited about the East Falls marketplace."
For its part, PHA is in the process of delivering on its piece of the promise as well.
