Senior housing complex and Cascia center for St. Rita’s church could be built at Broad and Ellsworth

St. Rita’s, the church located at 1166 S. Broad St., is looking to build mix its plan for a new Cascia Center with a senior housing complex.

Catholic Health Care Services and the St. Rita Shrine, along with Cecil Baker Partners architecture firm, are planning a multi-level building as a space for large gatherings for the church, with senior housing on the upper floors of the building.

That’s a big change from the one-story building the church originally planned for the site after tearing down the old school two years ago.

More from Catholic Philly:

While still very much in the planning stages, the intent is to build a facility that will house the Cascia Center on the ground floor with apartments for seniors on the upper floors. The apartments will be for income-eligible seniors, similar to facilities already developed by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Catholic Health Care Services at St. John Neumann Place in South Philadelphia, Nativity B.V.M. Senior Housing in Port Richmond and soon to be opened St. Francis Villa in Kensington.

Here’s what the last plan looked like:

Surely, Inquirer critic Inga Saffron will be pleased with this idea, since she suggested it nearly two years ago. Still, senior housing is in short supply in South Philly, even with the opening of the Cedars Village complex a few blocks east on Ellsworth a few years ago.