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The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) has acquired a recently completed apartment community in North Philadelphia as part of its ongoing effort to expand its multifamily portfolio. The public agency paid $49.1 million for a 200-unit development known as Avenue V, continuing a series of purchases made under its Opening Doors initiative.
Riverwards Group, a Philadelphia-based developer, delivered the Avenue V community in January before completing the sale to PHA. The property is located at 1635 N. 5th St. in the Olde Kensington neighborhood of North Philadelphia. The acquisition gives PHA control of a newly built multifamily asset in a residential area that also offers ground-floor commercial capacity.
In addition to the residential component, the Avenue V property includes 20,000 square feet of available retail space. This transaction represents the second phase of Riverwards Group’s Avenue V project. The first phase, an 82-unit building, traded in 2022 for $25.2 million, demonstrating continued investor interest in the broader assemblage over multiple years.
The latest Avenue V sale marks the second transaction completed between Riverwards Group and PHA. Earlier, the developer built the first phase of its Somerset Station project in Port Richmond, totaling 220 units, and sold that asset to PHA for $58 million in May. Both deals reflect a recurring relationship between the public buyer and the private developer across multiple multifamily properties.
The Somerset Station disposition concluded a nine-month period in which PHA committed $235 million to acquire 1,329 apartment units. These acquisitions were made as part of the agency’s Opening Doors initiative, which focuses on expanding its housing inventory through the purchase of existing and newly completed communities.
By acquiring both phases of Riverwards Group’s projects and other assets within the same timeframe, PHA has accelerated the growth of its multifamily holdings. The organization is using direct purchases of stabilized and newly completed properties as a key tool to add units and retail space to its portfolio, rather than relying solely on ground-up development.
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