Fate of Germantown YWCA remains in limbo as developer’s appeal for control of the building fails

After over a year of legal conflict, the fate of Germantown’s YWCA is again uncertain after a Common Pleas court judge declined to reconsider Northwest Philadelphia developer Ken Weinstein’s bid to win control of the long-vacant city-owned building.

Weinstein sought to use Act 135, a state law that allows petitioners to win conservatorship over “blighted” property, to gain control of the Germantown YWCA.

He lost his case late last year. In early April, the court denied Weinstein’s request for a reconsideration.

“We reserve the right to refile the case in the future if the [Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority] does not reuse the site and the property continues to deteriorate,” Weinstein said.

Weinstein’s usage of Act 135 comes as the law is under increasing scrutiny from Philadelphia City Council. Several members criticized the developer, without naming him, at Tuesday budget hearings for the Department of Planning and Development.

They questioned the fact that Weinstein was chair of the city’s Philadelphia Housing Development Corp. when he filed the petition against the Redevelopment Authority.

“Somebody sits on your board and goes after a City of Philadelphia parcel of property. Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” Council President Kenyatta Johnson asked members of the administration Tuesday afternoon.

In an interview after the hearing, Weinstein noted that he left the housing corporation’s board soon after filing the Act 135 suit.

The Germantown YWCA is a 110-year old, four-story historic building and a neighborhood icon that the Redevelopment Authority has long controlled. When it first offered the building up for redevelopment, Weinstein was the only one who bid.

But the agency isn’t in full control of the building. To sell city-owned land, a Council member must introduce legislation to begin the process — one of the principal precepts of councilmanic prerogative, the tradition that gives district members extensive influence over land use in their territory.

District Councilmember Cindy Bass, who has a contentious relationship with Weinstein, didn’t like his proposal for senior housing at the site. She didn’t introduce the legislation needed to move his project forward.

When the Redevelopment Authority next put it up for bid in 2016, a new entrant beat Weinstein: Ohio-based KBK Enterprises, which promised to turn the YWCA into a mixed-use apartment building.

But KBK made no progress on the project despite a favorable development environment, and in 2021, the Redevelopment Authority revoked the agreement with KBK.

At the time, Bass defended KBK as an example of “Black and brown folks who want to do business around construction in the City of Philadelphia and who have been systematically excluded by the city itself.”

She insisted KBK be brought back on, but over three years later, the project is still stalled. The Redevelopment Authority again let the company’s bid for the site lapse at the end of last year.

But the authority’s deputy executive director, David Thomas, has stated publicly that the agency is powerless to move in a different direction without the Councilmember’s support.

PRA does “not want to waste anyone’s time because it would not be fair to anyone if the Councilwoman was not willing to consider anyone else right now,” the Redevelopment Authority’s February board meeting minutes read. “Mr. Thomas further stated that with regard to the RFP process the authority must have councilmanic support and it is not fair to staff or developers to issue a RFP without such support.”

On Tuesday, Bass said KBK is still in the game.

“We think that we might be in a very good position by the summer to be able to start proceeding with the project,” Bass said. “I am going to ask KBK to give a community update so they can frame this as they see fit sometime between now and the end of June.”

A Redevelopment Authority spokesperson said the agency could probably not respond in detail until next week.

In 2023, Weinstein, frustrated by the lack of progress and lingering vacancy, filed an Act 135 petition against the property. The 2008 law was crafted by Philadelphia legislators in Harrisburg to fight absentee landlords and real estate speculators who leave empty buildings to rot in hope of an eventual windfall.

Act 135 allows a “conservator” to seek temporary possession of a property if it has been unoccupied and neglected for over a year. The Redevelopment Authority argued in court that while the building has been vacant as KBK failed to progress, the agency is still taking care of the property.

The judge sided with the city, twice, although Weinstein still claims a partial victory.

“We successfully forced the city to do a massive cleanup of the site in order to reduce blight and increase safety along Germantown Avenue,” Weinstein wrote in an email. “As a result of our action, many truckloads of trash were removed, and new fencing was installed around the perimeter.”

But his efforts have ruffled feathers on a City Council that has increasingly critiqued Act 135, which they see as a means that predatory developers seek to seize the property of lower-income Philadelphians. Most Act 135 cases are over private property, not public property as in this case.

At Tuesday’s budget hearings, Council President Johnson and Bass — who dubbed Weinstein’s move “insider trading” — criticized the developer repeatedly for using Act 135 while chair of the city’s development corporation.

“He’s not a member anymore, yes, but it was still odd that a sitting chair was filing Act 135 while … appointed by the city,” Johnson said. “I just want to put that out there. We have to be mindful when we see these types of acts.”

Weinstein dismissed the idea that he was using any insider information when he submitted the Act 135 suit. He said he just did what he thought was right after years of inaction that have left the Germantown YWCA vacant.

“Nobody likes to be challenged,” Weinstein said of Council’s critiques. “But I think it’s our responsibility to take action when the city is not doing the right thing and leaving properties blighted.”