Currently Building
Habitat is currently building at several sites around the county:
The Stitchery: Three 2 bedroom condos complete and occupied, 3 remaining condos complete and awaiting ownership in Perkasie Borough.
Plymouth and Watson Avenues in Bristol: Two, four-bedroom ranch-style homes are planned for two single lots. Groundbreaking for the first house is planned for late November 2011. The second house will be started in 2012. Applications for the second home are being accepted now. See Application Information.
Scroll down for details on the above current building sites.
Habitat is currently developing these sites in the county:
Stay tuned! We hope to have new information soon!
Emerald Hollow Phase Two
Currently, we are finishing work on the second phase of the 73-home community of Emerald Hollow in Trumbauersville and Milford Township, PA. The community boasts 15 acres of open space with walking trails. It’s recognized as one of the largest and most innovative Habitat projects in the Northeast. We have just completed a number of remaining site work issues. The final home sold by Habitat Bucks directly was purchased in December 2011.
The Stitchery
This homebuilding program located in Perkasie Borough represents Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County’s first ever “adaptive reuse” project. The building is located at 815 West Chestnut Street in a mixed-use community; there are several row/townhomes on the block, some single homes, one apartment building and three factories that have been converted into office buildings. > See photos of The Stitchery on our Flickr page.
Project status:
- Units A, C & D are complete and homeowner occupied!
- Unit F is complete and is in the process of being sold.
- Units B & E are complete and are awaiting as families to be chosen into the program.
History of the building
Brothers Ed and Walt Hubbert learned to stitch covers on Major League baseballs while employed by the A.J. Reach Co. in Philadelphia, PA. After moving to Perkasie, PA around 1920, the Hubbert brothers made a stitching arrangement with Spalding to begin a small baseball business in Perkasie.
All Hubbert family members and most relatives were soon stitching baseballs in the Hubbert home at 142 North Main Street in South Perkasie and as neighbors joined, the house filled with stitchers. An addition was made to the home, but the volume of work soon required a larger facility. This building at 815 Chestnut Street became the new baseball factory, employing 50 stitchers that worked at the factory and about 300 home workers -- all of whom looked forward to the annual visits from the Philadelphia Phillies who came to Perkasie to see how their baseballs were made.
In 1950 the Hubbert/Spalding major league stitching contract expired. Dave Hubbert (son of Walt Hubbert) developed a much improved softball which could be used in the developing major U.S. sport. Dave Hubbert marketed his new softball through a small New York firm called Dudley Sports Co. For 18 years, a home work force of 150 people stitched Dudley softballs in Perkasie. In 1968 Hubbert Ball Co. merged with Dudley Sports.
The Dudley softball went on to become the most popular softball in the United States. Sales reached up to 6 million balls a year and the total work force numbered 1000 employees for Dudley Sports located in the Pennridge area and in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti and Vidalia, Georgia. In 1990 Spalding purchased Dudley sports, and in 2000, the building became the Pennridge Senior Center.
Liberator Street
In November 2009, Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County was awarded one full home sponsorship by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans for the 2010 calendar year. This project began in March 2010 with the goal to provide a decent, safe and affordable home for one low-income family in Bucks County.
An abandoned, deteriorating home, the existing structure was removed to the foundation and 75% of the debris recycled. Helping to revitalize the neighborhood, Habitat Bucks also built it's first Energy Star rated home. The house was dedicated on November 13, 2010 and is now home to a three-generation family.
Colonial Avenue
Colonial Avenue in Bristol now has four, beautiful and "green" townhomes built from the ground up to the following specifications:
- 3 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom
- Eat-in kitchen
- Living room
- Laundry room
- Homeowners’ Association
- Underground storm water retention basin, rain gardens and pervious driveways
- Formaldehyde-free spray foam insulation
- ENERGY STAR®-rated windows, exterior doors, appliances, CFL light fixtures, ceiling and exhaust fan
- Low VOC paints and adhesives
- Green-labeled carpet and flooring
- Water-saver plumbing fixtures
These Energy Star rated homes were completed and sold to brand-new, Habitat homeowners in June and July 2011.
