Shift Capital is selling many of its Kensington holdings

Shift Capital made its name in Kensington.

The company has long styled itself as a socially conscious real estate developer, rebuilding long-vacant buildings into thriving mixed-use properties in a neighborhood challenged by poverty and addiction.

Now 14 years after the company’s formation, it is seeking to sell its cornerstone developments in the neighborhood.

That includes its Harrowgate flagship, the 116-unit building at 3400 J St. known as J-centrel, which is home to the renowned Vietnamese bakery and cafe Càphê Roasters.

Kensington Corridor Trust, a nonprofit that Shift helped found, plans to purchase that property for $18 million, although it needs to raise $1.5 million more by the end of August to close on the deal.

The organization is a neighborhood trust with the mission of acquiring properties on Kensington Avenue and placing them under community control — via a nonprofit board — to preserve affordability. Currently, most of the trust’s properties are storefronts and much smaller than J-centrel.

“We’re excited to hand the responsibility of creating a healthy, safe neighborhood to the next group to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” said Brian Murray, CEO of Shift Capital. “It’s an exciting moment of transition to the next generation of people … who want to see Kensington be what it could be.”

Murray says the properties Shift wants to sell represent 30% of their properties in the city.

They are in talks with potential buyers for the old industrial building at 3775 Kensington Ave., and the artist studios, office space, and light manufacturing at 3525 I St. (MaKen Studios North) and 3401 I St. (MaKen Studios South).

Murray emphasizes that Shift will retain a presence in Kensington. Their offices will remain in J-centrel, and they are still working on the Càphê Roasters expansion across the street at 3419-23 Kensington Ave.

He says a sale of this kind has always been part of the plan. The investors who backed these developments in Kensington are nearing the end of their time with the fund, and Shift is not currently planning to recapitalize with new partners.

“Our world is limited to capital that needs to be returned,” he said. “They can be as mission-driven as they would like, but that still is a limitation of the role that we can play in revitalizing and preserving neighborhoods.”

That’s why Murray wants to sell to Kensington Corridor Trust, which Shift helped found in 2019 (although it exited the organization’s board in 2021).

Kensington Corridor Trust owns 32 properties along the avenue, although none is close to the size of J-centrel. In preparation for the purchase, the trust has hired more staff, including a new property manager and a full-time maintenance person who used to be with Shift.

“Shift Capital’s J-centrel property will be our single largest acquisition to date in terms of square footage, units, and cost,” said Adriana Abizadeh-Barbour, executive director of Kensington Corridor Trust.

Abizadeh-Barbour said the trust raised a half-million dollars in early August, and she is confident it can get the $1.5 million needed before the end of the month.

The funds raised so far include $1 million from individual donations, $1 million from the City of Philadelphia, $3 million from foundations, $3 million from investment funds, and $10 million from Community Development Financial Institution, which specifically invests in low-income areas.

“We have a strong base of supporters who believe in community control and neighborhood power, and we’re excited to bring this under community ownership,” Abizadeh-Barbour said.

The trust plans to make the apartments more affordable as higher income tenants move out of the building, with the goal of targeting the units to those at 60% of area median income, or roughly $50,000 for a one-person household.

As for Shift, the company has other big plans in Philadelphia. Earlier this year it announced a partnership with Temple University over a long delayed development proposal near Amtrak’s North Philadelphia station, near Broad Street and Indiana Avenue.

And although lenders backed away from the firm’s redevelopment of the historic Beury building at 3701 N. Broad St. in 2024 amid an increasingly difficult development environment, Murray says they “are still actively working on” the property.

“The Kensington Corridor Trust [sale] is an exciting mission exit that we’ve been working on almost from the beginning of our work,” Murray said. “This was always a prescripted game plan to create an entity that was community controlled that could be a steward of assets in the neighborhood long term.”