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25 years at the Beech

North Philadelphia development corporation will celebrate its anniversary with gala tonight.

Bernard C.Watson, former president of the William Penn Foundation, Floyd Alston, first president of Beech Interplex (which later became Beech Companies), and Kenneth Scott, who started out as a volunteer engineer with Beech and is now the president of Beech Companies. (BEECH PHOTO)
Bernard C.Watson, former president of the William Penn Foundation, Floyd Alston, first president of Beech Interplex (which later became Beech Companies), and Kenneth Scott, who started out as a volunteer engineer with Beech and is now the president of Beech Companies. (BEECH PHOTO)Read more

ROBERT NOTTINGHAM has lived in North Central Philadelphia for more than 25 years.

When Nottingham moved from South Philly to the North Philly home that his late uncle had owned, the neighborhood was overcome by troubles.

There were blocks of decaying houses - some were drug dens for people who had fallen into the zombie-world of the crack epidemic of the 1980s.

"Before the [August 1964 race] riots, things were really good," Nottingham said. "We used to have really nice bars, shoe stores, clothing stores and furniture stores. You could walk out on the avenue and get anything you wanted. You didn't need to go downtown."

But after the riots - fueled by false reports that a police officer had shot and killed a pregnant black woman - "things really went downhill."

"Between the riots and until Beech [Companies] came, nobody was putting in money in North Philadelphia," said Nottingham, 60, a retired school community aide.

Beech Companies, first known as Beech Interplex, came to North Philadelphia in 1990.

Tonight, the community development firm will celebrate its 25th anniversary. It has grown to include four companies: Beech Business Bank, the Alston-Beech Foundation, Beech Interplex and Beech Community Services.

It started out in rented office space behind the Women's Christian Alliance on North Broad Street with funding from the William Penn Foundation.

But it wasn't long before Beech built new offices on Cecil B. Moore Avenue at 15th Street.

The late Floyd Alston, who had been a bank vice president and president of the Philadelphia School Board, was the first president at Beech, a position he held until he retired in 2005.

And Bernard C. Watson, the former president of the William Penn Foundation and, later, the Barnes Foundation, had been the founding chairman of Beech.

James S. White, a former city managing director and a trustee at Temple, said it was the skill set and personal character of the founding leaders of Beech that helped it become successful over the years.

"It's hard to work in a city like this unless you have some people who believe in what you're doing and can help you in some way when you need a helping hand," said White, a former board member at Beech.

Added longtime North Philadelphia resident Karen Warrington: "Beech founder Floyd Alston had a vision for the rebirth of the area. Beech has been largely successful. For the first time since the '60s, black families are living in suburban-like new housing that they own - not rent - in the area."

At a recent public meeting about the history of North Philadelphia, held at the Wagner Institute, Evelyn Gray, former owner of a small T-shirt business on Cecil B. Moore, said: "I thank God for Beech."

Last night, Gray said that Beech gives out turkeys at Thanksgiving to churches, and sponsors an "Avenue of Treats" for children at Halloween.

She said she really enjoys the "Jazz on the Avenue" held each August for the last several years. "Old friends come back and they love it," Gray said.

Not every one is so flattering.

North Philadelphia activist and real-estate broker Judith Robinson said in recent years, Beech has built student housing, just as outside developers have.

But Kenneth Scott, the current president, said funding for affordable community housing has been unavailable in the last several years. He noted that Beech plans to take part in the development of affordable housing in the Sharswood-Blumberg area, joining with the Philadelphia Housing Authority to help build 151 new homes near 24th and Jefferson.

"Columbia Avenue [now Cecil B. Moore Avenue] used to be known as 'Jump Street,' " Scott said. "There were a lot of jazz clubs." So the idea was to have a celebration of that cultural history.

"People who have not been here for 20 years are coming back, looking around at how the neighborhood has changed, and they're looking at the new houses," he said. And some are moving back.

In its 25 years, Beech said it has developed 1,200 units of new affordable housing, renovated about 350 housing units, developed 350,000 square-feet of commercial and office space, and helped to leverage about $1.8 billion in reinvestment in the once neglected North Central neighborhood.

Tonight's 25th anniversary party includes a dinner gala at the First District Plaza at 38th and Market streets in West Philadelphia.

Founding chairman Watson will be the speaker and Roland S. Martin, the syndicated columnist and host of "NewsOne Now" on TV One, will be the dinner host.

"Beech did a whole lot for the neighborhood," Nottingham said. "They were the original ones to come around here and start rebuilding and then Temple [landlords] got a taste of it and now these outside contractors are coming in, too."