ALBERT M. GREENFIELD

1 Albert M. Greenfield with redevelopment plans for the City of Philadelphia, 1956

Albert M. Greenfield (1887-1967) was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who started as an office boy and went on to build a vast network of real estate holdings, department stores, banks, finance companies, hotels, newspapers, and transportation companies. He changed the face of the city, helping to promote diversity and reform Philadelphia politics. Under Mayor Richardson Dilworth, Greenfield was instrumental in overseeing the start of numerous renewal projects, most notably in Society Hill.

When Richardson Dilworth took office as mayor in 1956, many plans for renewal existed only on paper. Dilworth needed someone with practical real estate experience to translate maps and models into bricks and mortar: a Planning Commission chairman capable of harnessing the business community to work with government leaders. Albert M. Greenfield fit that description.

At a time when suburbs were rapidly expanding, Greenfield believed that city centers would die without massive overhaul. But his solution was a unique surgical approach. A detailed revitalization plan certified a thousand-acre tract southeast of Independence Hall for urban renewal, but instead of condemning and leveling everything, as other cities were doing, Philadelphia combined demolition with preservation—offering existing homeowners the opportunity to restore historic exteriors with low-cost loans.

Dilworth's first public act as mayor was a directive to proceed with Greenfield's plan. But it soon became apparent that coordinating public

and private participants was beyond the scope of any public agency. Greenfield's solution was to create a nonprofit public-private partnership with business leaders who had a stake in Center City. Forming this new civic enterprise—among the first of its kind in American cities—became Greenfield's primary mission. The Old Philadelphia Development Corporation, now Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, was formed in May of 1956, with two million dollars in capital and a board including city officials, business and labor leaders, and two university presidents.

Within a year of Greenfield's arrival at the Planning Commission, the decrepit Dock Street Market was demolished, making way for Society Hill Towers and Townhouses, and historic preservation was under way. While subsequent renewal efforts placed more emphasis on retaining existing residents, Greenfield helped start the downtown residential revival that continued well into the twenty-first century.

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