Francis House of Peace will be home for many in Chinatown

CHINATOWN (WPVI) -- What is now a construction site will soon be new homes in Chinatown.

The nine-story, 78,000 square foot building is located on the 800 block of Arch Street.

The building will feature retail space on the first floor with 94 units of affordable housing above for formerly homeless and low-income people.

It's named the Francis House of Peace to honor this pope's work and his visit to Philadelphia.

The Holy Redeemer Choir sang at Monday morning's dedication ceremony.

Non-profit organizations Project HOME and Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation worked together on this development, which will provide services for both English and Chinese speaking residents, in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Project Home's mission is to empower people to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. In this project, there's a special emphasis on homeless youth.

Both public and private funding was used.

Phillies co-owner John Middleton and his wife Leigh were among the lead private contributors.