Streamline seeks fresh start on toxic Kensington soil: ‘We’re a different animal’

Jake Blumgart, PlanPhilly

South Kensington used to be an industrial hub, dominated by the kind of sprawling, dirty, and job-rich businesses that mostly left Philadelphia long ago. Now the neighborhood is full of vast tracts of empty land, some of it scarred by toxic leftovers of yesterday’s industry. A few manufacturing businesses remain, like Emil’s, an organic deli meat processor. “Because we have these big swaths of vacant land, we’ve seen these proposals for really dense projects,” said Eileen Divringi, board president of South Kensington Community Partners. “We have been a little bit overwhelmed by it, because we have meeting after meeting after meeting where we’re seeing proposals for 100-plus unit developments.” One of the most recent projects reviewed by Divringi’s group is a 190-unit housing complex from Streamline Solutions, a Philadelphia-based firm known for townhomes and duplexes. Over two-thirds of the units will be in a mixed-use, multi-family building fronting on American Street.

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