Susan Varghese

Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority

The PRA is the City of Philadelphia's implementation arm for community development, charged with leveraging the City's assets to provide redevelopment opportunities, and also create and preserve affordable housing, and improve quality of life. Founded in 1945, we are dedicated to Philadelphia and its neighborhoods and we use our expertise to underwrite, develop, and manage residential and mixed use projects throughout the City. In order to achieve this we have four primary roles: We are a full-service lender with underwriters, attorneys, construction inspectors and asset managers. We are stewards of approximately 30% of the City's inventory and we work closely with developers and government officials to assemble and sell parcels for redevelopment. We are advisors to the City and its agencies. We work closely with the following public agencies: Division of Housing and Community Development Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation Philadelphia Land Bank Philadelphia Commerce Department Philadelphia City Planning Commission Philadelphia Housing Authority ​Whether it is through the PRA's Advisory Board of Design which reviews large scale projects such as the Mormon Temple, or serving as the Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Re-Entry Coalition Subcommittee on Housing, we are involved with numerous public agencies focused on the effort to improve Philadelphia as a whole. We are the custodians of approximately 3,000 parcels of the City's inventory. We maintain over 800 acres of land on behalf of the City and work with other City agencies such as CLIP and Licenses and Inspection to ensure properties are clean and safe.