In the latest round, the JV between locally based Berwind Property Group and Realen Homes and the team of Preferred Real Estate Investments, which is based on Conshohocken, and Pulte Homes, a Bloomfield, MI homebuilder, were dropped. Earlier entrants were Liberty Property Trust of Malvern with Nolen Cos. from King of Prussia, and a JV between locally based Binswanger/CBB and Berwyn-based Realen Properties.

Byberry is a 131-acre site in the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia that opened as a state mental hospital in 1907. It has been shuttered for nearly 14 years and become an infamous Halloween haunt, "a burden to the community," says Mayor Street.

In 2002, the state offered to transfer ownership of the site to the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. for $850,000, providing PIDC would develop a master plan with the approval of the surrounding community. PIDC acquired the property and, with the Somerton Civic Association, agreed on a plan that would dedicate approximately 25 acres to open space, 50 acres to residential use and 55 acres along Roosevelt Boulevard to new office development.

That plan was the basis of a public developer-solicitation process that eventually led to the selection of Brandywine/Westrum. "The development team will now work closely with the local community and elected officials to produce a final development plan," Street says. Approximately 20 buildings are on the property in varying degrees of decay. The cost of their demolition is estimated at $15 million.