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Philadelphia City Agrees to Sell Historic Building on Vine Street to Development Authority for $60 Million

Official:Authorizing the Commissioner of Public Property to enter into a series of transactions whereby The City of Philadelphia ("City") would: (a) sell to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development ("PAID") a certain City-owned building located at 1901 Vine Street ("Free Library Building"), provided that PAID resells the Free Library Building to a certain third party or parties; (b) lease from PAID the Free Library Building upon PAID's lease of the building from a certain third party or parties; (c) lease to PAID the land bounded by Nineteenth Street, Vine Street, Twentieth Street and the former Wood Street ("Free Library Land"), provided that PAID leases the Free Library Land to a certain third party or parties; and (d) lease from PAID the Free Library Land upon PAID's lease of the land from a certain third party or parties; all under and subject to certain terms and conditions.

Sponsor: Councilmember Clarke

Introduced: May 15, 2003

: Committee on Finance

finance housing leasing

No one voted on this bill

This bill was introduced in the 2000–2003 Council term and when that term ran out. The public record shows no committee vote and no floor vote at any stage, so no member of Council ever went on record for or against it.

That is not unusual here. Of the 8,465 bills introduced between 2000 and 2025, 1,624 lapsed without a single recorded vote. Ninety percent of bills that became law carry a roll call. Three percent of lapsed bills do. How this works.

Plain-Language Summary

This bill allows the City to sell a building at 1901 Vine Street to PAID, who would then resell it to an investor group for at least $60 million. The city would receive net proceeds from the sale and lease back the property.

What This Bill Does

AI-written. Every figure is checked against the bill text.

The bill would

Allow the City to sell the Free Library Building at 1901 Vine Street to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development (PAID) for resale to a third party.
Require the City to lease the Free Library Building from PAID after it is resold to a third party.
Allow the City to lease the land bounded by Nineteenth Street, Vine Street, Twentieth Street, and the former Wood Street to PAID for resale to a third party.
Require the City to lease the land from PAID after it is leased to a third party.