Rose V. Gray Selected as the 2022 Paul Philippe Cret Award Recipient

The Paul Philippe Cret Award recognizes individuals or organizations who are not architects but who have made an outstanding and lasting contribution to the design of buildings, structures, landscapes, and the public realm of Greater Philadelphia.

Rose V. Gray is the Senior Vice President of Community and Economic Development at Asociación Puertorriqueños En Marcha (APM), a non-profit community development corporation in North Philadelphia.  Since joining the organization in 1990, Ms. Gray has been actively engaged in the revitalization of eastern North Philadelphia, a diverse community that has historically been comprised by Latinos and African Americans. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of APM’s community-based revitalization plan, from community organizing to planning and development. In addition to the physical redevelopment work, Ms. Gray manages APM’s rental and commercial portfolio, in addition to a housing counseling program, which provides budgeting, pre-, and post- mortgage counseling, credit repair, weatherization and basic system repair programs to persons of low and moderate income.

During her tenure at APM, Ms. Gray has successfully leveraged over $280 million in investments to implement a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy. She has developed over 350 units of affordable housing, which include low income housing tax credit projects and the successful Pradera home development, a 153-unit homeownership zone within walking distance of Borinquen Plaza, a 44,000 square foot retail center (also developed by APM) that includes a supermarket, Laundromat and a credit union. In addition, Ms. Rose was responsible for the Paseo Verde Transit Oriented Development mixed use development, which houses 120 units of market/affordable rental units and 30,000 square feet of retail/office space that consist of a Federally Qualified Health Center, a pharmacy, fitness gym, community center and APM headquarters. The Paseo Verde TOD received triple LEED Platinum status in 2014 and is the first LEED Platinum Neighborhood Development in the Nation and second in the World.

Since 2014, Ms. Gray has focused on the preservation of existing affordable housing stock and through the Low-Income-Housing Tax Credit program has been able to extend the life of 145 units of affordable rental housing for an additional 40 years.

Currently, Ms. Gray is supervising the construction of Camino De Oro, a 44 unit affordable senior development and is in the process of closing on the preservation of Jardine’s a 45 unit general population Low-income Housing Tax Credit Development (LIHTC) development extending its affordable for an additional 40 years.

Ms. Gray is a civic leader. She was one of seven delegates appointed by Governor Ridge to the “Summit for America’s Future”. She served a member of the Governor’s Advisory Board on Community and Economic Development from 2012-2018 and serves on various boards and committees, TRF New Market Advisory Board, the Urban Land Institute, the Design Collaborative and was re- elected as the Board President for the Philadelphia Association of Community Development corporations. Ms. Gray was appointed to the Commission on Aging by Mayor Michael Nutter in 2011 and was re-appointed in 2016 and served in this position until 2019 under Mayor Kenny.

Ms. Gray is a Guest Lecturer at Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College and Rutgers New Brunswick Campus.

Ms. Gray is being recognized for her significant contributions to the built environment in Philadelphia through her community-informed design, development and advocacy work. Her accomplishments speak for themselves and the architectural community is very grateful for her leadership.

Check out the award winner video highlighted here:

https://youtu.be/of9LwI0nCaU