The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) demolished the Queen Lane Apartments, a 16-story high-rise building in Germantown, at 7:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 13. The agency plans to replace the site with “a 55-unit development that will be a mix of low-rise flats, walkups, and townhouses in character with the neighborhood,” according to a release.

Initial plans for redevelopment of the site were announced in 2010, then halted after residents raised concerns about a potter’s field, a historical burial ground dating back to the 1700s. 

PHA signed a Programmatic Agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) in February 2014 that governs the way the site will be redeveloped in regards to the historic interment site. To date no human remains have been found at the potter’s field.

According to PHA, “former residents of the high-rise began relocating in 2011. PHA paid for the cost of the move, the security deposit, and one month’s rent for residents moving to the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program. The agency also reimbursed residents for reconnection of their telephone and cable TV service and provided a dislocation allowance of a hundred dollars.”