Saint Rita Cascia Center Community Housing

Design for a new 52,000GSF residential building that houses the Cascia Center, which is dedicated to the outreach ministries of the Saint Rita Shrine while also providing low-income housing to seniors in Philadelphia. The project sits next to St. Rita’s Shrine on the corner of Ellsworth and S. Broad Street.

The five-story building is comprised of a structural steel podium on the first floor and four stories of wood construction above for dwelling units. The first floor houses the Cascia Center, a non-profit providing community support services, and the upper levels have 46 one-bedroom apartments for income eligible seniors 62 and older. There is a small basement for utilities and storage. The project was complicated by the tight urban site constrained by the adjacent SEPTA Broad Street subway line.