Under new leadership, Women’s Community Revitalization Project is developing apartments on public land in Kensington
The plan is for 34 apartments in a new building, flanked by two triplexes, on land owned by the city.
The Women’s Community Revitalization Project is planning a 34-unit apartment building, flanked by two triplexes, on city-owned land in Kensington.
All of the units will be available to those below 60% of area median income, or almost $72,000 for a family of four.
The apartment building at Cumberland and Reese streets is designed at an angle slashing across the lot, using only a portion of the city-owned land.
“Having a solid wall of building directly across [from rowhouses], we just felt wasn’t really contextual to the neighborhood,” said Lorissa Luciani, who has been the executive director of Women’s Community Revitalization Project (WCRP) for the last nine months. “Then there’s height limitations so we couldn’t go any higher.”
The project is funded through federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), which the nonprofit group obtained in 2025. The land will be obtained for a nominal cost from the city.
WCRP has been meeting with local community groups since 2024. Luciani said organizations like Xiente, APM, and the 19th Ward RCO have been supportive of this project.
The development, designed by Philadelphia-based CICADA Architecture and Planning, will cost over $26 million and is slated for completion 18 months after the group settles on the land. It will include 10 parking spaces.
On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Land Bank’s board voted to approve the sale of the property to WCRP. The plan also has the backing of Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, which is essential because she will need to introduce legislation to move the property out of the Land Bank.
“It’s an amazing project,” Lozada said. “We are in need of partners like the Women’s Community Revitalization Project who understand the need for not just affordable housing, but deeply affordable housing.”
Without Lozada’s support, the project would be impossible. Final passage of the legislation could come as soon as later this month.
Luciani said WCRP would close on the project in the fall.
This will be Luciani’s first ground-up development with the organization. She joined the nonprofit in 2025 after WCRP’s longstanding executive director and founder Nora Lichtash retired from her leadership role with the group after 35 years. She still works for the group as a consultant.
WCRP was founded in 1986 in to serve Fishtown, Kensington, and other neighborhoods in North Philadelphia east of Broad Street. Since then, it has developed projects in other corners of the city, like Germantown and Point Breeze.
“My predecessor has a substantial amount of experience and relationships with many of these organizations” in Kensington, Luciani said.
“I’m trying to work to have my own relationships with them,” Luciani said. “They’re a really organized, sophisticated community that really understands their needs, and they’ll fight for it as hard as they need to.”
Luciani previously worked in New Jersey local and state government and planning for decades and has a deep familiarity with subsidized housing policy.
“I grew up in public housing in North Jersey,” Luciani said. “So it’s been a personal and professional lens that I utilize to try and continue the good work that helped my family in the hopes of helping others.”