Philly plans to lease 21 acres of city land to a building trades union for $1 a year
The union that represents operating engineers will build a new apprentice training facility at the site in Southwest Philadelphia.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration plans to lease about 21 acres of city-owned land in Southwest Philadelphia to a building trades union that intends to build an apprenticeship training facility on the plot — at virtually no cost to the union.
City Council on Thursday unanimously passed legislation to authorize the deal between the city, the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, and an affiliate of the International Union of Operating Engineers.
Under the terms of the agreement, which can last up to 20 years, the union will pay $1 a year in rent to occupy the property, which includes the Victory Gardens and Emerson landfill sites that sit on a plot of land near the Schuylkill River.
The Parker administration did not respond to repeated requests for information over the past week about the public benefit expected from the lease with the operating engineers union. City officials also did not provide an appraisal of the site, nor did they answer questions as to whether the city determined the fair-market value or potential rental value of the parcels.
Jim Reilley, the business manager of the operating engineers Local 542, could not be reached for comment Thursday. The local represents heavy equipment operators and mechanics across eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.
The city has issued nominal-rent leases before, and those deals typically require some form of public benefit.
Under the terms of the deal outlined in the legislation, the union must host city-sponsored job fairs, reserve 10% of its available apprentice openings each year for residents of Philadelphia who meet the program’s eligibility requirements, and “cooperate with the city in expanding the applicant pool.”
In addition, the union’s Joint Apprenticeship, Training and Safety Fund will be responsible for financing the training facility and an environmental remediation process at the site in accordance with the state’s land recycling program, which sets standards for the cleanup and reuse of contaminated commercial and industrial sites.
The legislation requires city approval of remediation and development plans before work begins. It does not specify when the union will break ground on the facility or begin to offer training.
The scale of the environmental remediation needed at the site is unclear. The Parker administration did not respond to a request for details about the site and records that outline environmental assessments.
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who represents the district where the land is located and advanced the authorizing legislation, described the land as “vacant” and said that inking the deal with the union has been a two-year process.
“The public benefit is for us to have a state-of-the-art training facility right here in southwest Philadelphia,” he said. “I believe it will have a significant impact on young people who want to get inside the trades.”
Johnson and a contingent of other City Council members have long been allied with the operating engineers union and its partners that make up the city’s politically powerful coalition of building trades unions.
Local 542’s political action committee has donated nearly $10,000 a year to Johnson’s political committee in each of the last three years, according to campaign finance records.
Those records also show that Local 542 made substantial contributions to fuel Parker’s 2023 campaign for mayor, giving $35,700 to her campaign directly and another $150,000 to a super PAC that supported her bid.
The union has continued to support Parker’s campaign arm, giving nearly $30,000 since she took office in 2024.
The mayor has also had familial ties to the union: Parker’s ex-husband, Ben Mullins, was a member of the union’s executive board in 2023 as she was running for mayor. He is no longer listed as a member of the board on the union’s website.
The Parker administration did not respond to questions about whether the mayor played any role in discussions or negotiations concerning the lease.
Staff writer Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article.
