{"id":269918,"date":"2025-10-01T19:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T19:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/269918\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T19:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T19:15:17","slug":"st-katharine-drexel-senior-housing-community-begins-to-rise-in-northeast-philly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/269918\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Katharine Drexel Senior Housing Community Begins to Rise in Northeast Philly"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jay Sorgi \u2022 Posted October 1, 2025 <\/p>\n

Construction crews were moving dirt Monday morning, Sept. 29, managing a work site that Catholic Charities of Philadelphia<\/a> aims to make part of a greater \u201cCity of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

That hymn rose from the voices of Catholic leaders, community advocates, business leaders, government partners, and the Archbishop Ryan High School choir echoing above the din of construction work to mark the groundbreaking ceremony for St. Katharine Drexel Place, a new senior affordable housing community spearheaded by Catholic Housing and Community Services (CHCS), a ministry of Catholic Charities of Philadelphia (CCoP).<\/p>\n

>>>Photos: Catholic Charities Breaks Ground on Northeast Philly Senior Residence<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis space will be transformed and become a testament to the Church\u2019s commitment to our beloved seniors in this community,\u201d said Auxiliary Bishop John J. McIntyre during the ceremony and prayer service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith open hands and ready hearts, we now turn to God at the beginning of this project. We bring in prayer, our hopes and dreams for this new building dedicated to St. Katharine Drexel. We seek her intercession for the protection and safety of all those who will work on this site.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Catholic Housing and Community Services Director Suzanne O\u2019Grady Laurito speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for St. Katharine Drexel Place on Sept. 29. (Bradley Digital)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings such joy,\u201d said CHCS Director Suzanne O\u2019Grady Laurito. \u201cWe see people on the day they sign their leases. They are crying. These are our seniors, our elders. They should be revered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur seniors on fixed incomes have great challenges, so to get them into safe, affordable housing that\u2019s really beautiful, that reflects their innate God-given dignity, it\u2019s just transformative for them,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The former friary for Franciscan priests and brothers who formerly taught at Archbishop Ryan, located next to the high school at 11051 Academy Road in Northeast Philadelphia, will be rehabilitated while builders construct a new three-story addition.<\/a><\/p>\n

The community will feature 48 one-bedroom units for income-eligible seniors aged 62 and older. CHCS will offer case management, health services, and recreational activities at the location.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment they walk across that threshold, they have their own home,\u201d said CCOP Secretary and Executive Vice President Heather Huot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a place of dignity, and it is a place where they can age gracefully and with a supportive and loving community around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders hope to complete construction and open by the fall of 2026.<\/p>\n

The building has not been in regular use since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Archbishop Ryan was involved with the building from the time the school opened in 1966. The school repurposed the building during the 2000s as residences for students from Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou also have all the technical complications. This is an old building,\u201d said O\u2019Grady Laurito.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had challenges with streets and just with a host of other things that we had to resolve including legal complications. I believe eight or nine different law firms were involved. These deals are complicated, but they\u2019re so worth it, because the need for affordable housing is really critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The former friary next to Archbishop Ryan High School, now being rehabilitated as part of the St. Katharine Drexel Place project, will soon house affordable senior apartments in Northeast Philadelphia. (Bradley Digital)<\/p>\n

The $24 million project forged the efforts of numerous constituents across diverse political and economic lines, all within a private-public partnership spanning city, state and federal stakeholders, contracting and technical firms, private donors, and business partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a mix of tax credits, city funding, and alternative means of funding,\u201d said O\u2019Grady Laurito. \u201cPulling all of that in that capital stack is so complicated. CHCS also put in some of our own funds loaned into the development. We\u2019re really fortunate that we have supporters and we\u2019re in a place where we can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The community\u2019s location at Archbishop Ryan also offers an opportunity for future service learning-experiences by students, and enabling them to build relationships that bridge the generational gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our first location adjacent to an active Catholic high school, so what we are really foreseeing here is a lot of collaboration and activities between both the high school students and our residents, which will really just be a wonderful benefit to both communities,\u201d said Huot.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeniors are often battling isolation and at times they also have feelings of not being valued as they grow older, so I think this gives them an opportunity to continue to share the skills and the experiences that they\u2019ve learned with the younger generation. Then the younger generation (can) get them excited about some of the new technology and things that are going on in the world. It\u2019s really a wonderful connection between both young and old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders hope the result of the construction isn\u2019t just a residence for seniors in economic need, but inspiration for the community at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just so edifying, so encouraging,\u201d said O\u2019Grady Laurito. \u201cThe end product is this fabulous housing, but the heart of that story is everybody working together in something that is really positive, and needed to make a difference in the lives of our fellow human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Katharine Drexel Place is the eighth affordable senior living community developed and operated by CCoP. It joins:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Father Augustus Tolton Place (Southwest Philadelphia)
\u2013 Nativity B.V.M. Place (Port Richmond)
\u2013 St. Francis Villa (Kensington)
\u2013 St. John Neumann Place I and II (South Philadelphia)
\u2013 St. Joseph Place (Collingdale)
\u2013 St. Rita Place (South Philadelphia)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jay Sorgi \u2022 Posted October 1, 2025 Construction crews were moving dirt Monday morning, Sept. 29, managing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":269919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,61765,140331,19494,10324,1448,2830,1311,140332,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-269918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-catholic-charities-of-philadelphia","10":"tag-chcs","11":"tag-jay-sorgi","12":"tag-northeast-philadelphia","13":"tag-pa","14":"tag-pennsylvania","15":"tag-philadelphia","16":"tag-st-katharine-drexel-place","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115300514326389225","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}