Urban renaissance
Midtown neighborhood undergoes $10 million restoration effort
Friday, May 09, 2008
BY JOHN LUCIEWOf The Patriot-News
Construction is booming in a section of Harrisburg that hasn't seen meaningful investment since the flooding of Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972.
Painters perched on ladders apply much-needed fresh coats to porches, window frames and awnings of turn-of-the century row homes along the 1800, 1900 and 2000 blocks of Green, Penn and Susquehanna streets.
From within the old homes come the rumbling of renovation. Old ceilings, walls and crumbling plaster are knocked down to the studs so interiors can be reappointed with open floor plans and modern conveniences.
Seedlings are taking root along the sidewalks, and the spring air is thick with the fecund odor of freshly applied mulch.
They are the sights, sounds and smells of a neighborhood being reborn. Even the name is new, as proclaimed by the banners hanging from old-style street lamps: "Welcome to Olde Uptown," they read.
The audacious, $10 million reclamation effort, financed mostly with private funds from two companies -- WCI Partners and Green Street Properties, will be feted with the pomp and circumstance of a mayoral ribbon-cutting today.
But developers J. Alex Hartzler of WCI and Wendell Hoover of Green Street weren't about to wait for such formalities.
They said about 25 of the nearly 100 homes being remodeled or built in the four-square-block area have been sold.
All are going for market rates -- the low $100,000s for renovated townhouses and the low $200,000s for the 2,500-square-foot new homes.
"The No. 1 word I hear is, 'Wow, we didn't know this existed in Harrisburg,'" Hartzler said of the reaction at open houses.
The strip of new row homes that stretches along the eastern side of the block of 1900 Green Street is at the center of the project.
But Hartzler said he realized early on that it wouldn't be enough to plop down 16 new townhouses in the middle of a neighborhood in transition.
If he were going to lure buyers north from the successful rebirth of midtown and the rejuvenation wrought by Capital Heights, Hartzler said he knew he would need to stabilize the surrounding neighborhood as well.
So about two years ago, he and Hoover began quietly buying long-neglected properties from landlords eager to cash out at anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 per house.
Now, with 85 properties undergoing renovation, coupled with the 16 new units, there's enough critical mass to transform the neighborhood, Hartzler said. His motto for the neighborhood is safe, clean and green.
West Philly transplants Beth and Matt Hunter were among the early buyers. They purchased their renovated row home in July when it was still a gutted shell and construction of the townhouses was in the early stages.
But they saw the vision.
They selected the amenities and color schemes for their house and watched as a new neighborhood grew around them.
The Hunters and their two sons, Asher, 3, and Zephan, 17 months, revel in their spacious three-story a stone's throw from Riverfront Park.
It was far more home than the cramped ranches their budget would have bought in the suburbs. And the mortgage is affordable enough for Beth Hunter to be a stay-at-home mom.
"There was no way we'd be able to afford a home that's 2,500 square feet and custom-built anywhere else," she said.
Niki Williams just signed a contract for one of the townhouses. It's among seven of the first dozen built that have sold, Hartzler said.
After moving to Harrisburg from Washington, D.C., six years ago, Williams said she never wanted to live anywhere but the city, and she sees Olde Uptown as the next neighborhood on the rise.
"I'm so excited about this house," she said. "They'll be no maintenance, and I don't mind being a little further from downtown."
JOHN LUCIEW: 255-8171 or
jluciew@patriot-news.com
HOTEL UPDATE
WCI Partners is also the developer of the proposed 13-story, 138-room Aloft hotel at Second and State streets. Under a joint venture, Hersha Development Corp. is leading the project. WCI President J. Alex Hartzler said the companies are finalizing construction contracts and locking in prices in advance of a projected ground-breaking late this year. The project, announced by WCI in 2006, would be the first hotel built in the city since 1990.
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