Phillips Partnership Launches Affordable Housing Project

The Phillips Partnership launched a $7.6 million, 30-unit Selvaggio Affordable Housing Project on June 5, 2000, at a Chicago Avenue property across from Abbott Northwestern Hospital in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis. The project is named for Joseph Selvaggio, a social activist and founder of Project for Pride in Living, Inc. (PPL) , the project's lead developer.

"For me there is no greater pleasure than to see a 'challenged' building on this street become a home, because it captures the 'rebirth of spirit' in this neighborhood," said Gordon Sprenger, CEO, Allina Health System and co-chair of the Phillips Partnership. Sprenger noted that the Selvaggio Fund has helped make substantial improvements to 54 homes in the Phillips neighborhood.

Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, co-chair of the Phillips Partnership, led a tour of the property, which will be ready for tenants in November. Over the next six months, PPL will rehabilitate 11 buildings to provide 30 housing units ranging in size from one to four bedrooms.

The sponsoring agency for the Selvaggio project is the Phillips Partnership, which was created in the spring of 1997 to improve the housing, safety, employment and transportation infrastructure of the Phillips neighborhood. Partners in the project include Allina Health System, Hennepin County, Norwest/Wells Fargo, The Minneapolis Foundation, Children's Hospitals and Clinics, Fannie Mae, The Minnesota Partnership, U.S. Bancorp, Honeywell and the Metropolitan Council.

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