Global wellness real estate and technology company Delos is collaborating with TPP Capital Management Group (TPP) – a Black-led social impact private equity fund manager and healthcare real estate development firm – to advance health and wellness through buildings in urban communities.

The partnership will first work to transform Tioga District in North Philadelphia with evidence-based healthy building strategies and solutions.

The district has an 85.5 per cent Black population, 45 per cent of whom have high blood pressure, plus a 43.3 per cent obesity rate and 19.3 per cent with diabetes.

With a median household income of US$17,052 (€14,089, £12,810), the Tioga area also has 42 per cent of residents living in poverty and an 18 per cent unemployment rate.

Construction will begin in the first quarter of 2021 across a five city-square-block area, adding 1,407 residential units for rent or sale, 172,870sq ft of commercial/office space, 107,000sq ft of retail space and 92,392sq ft of pedestrian, streetscape and stormwater improvements.

Delos and TPP are currently planning on integrating Delos Home Wellness features across 82 workforce housing condominiums for middle-income service workers and 84 fully furnished mixed-Income 55+ senior residences for seniors with chronic medical conditions and restrictive diets.

“Delos and its CEO Paul Scialla are the catalysts of the health and wellness building movement, and we’re excited about our planned partnership,” said Clinton Bush, chief strategic officer at TPP.

“It gives us the competitive edge in innovation and technology to build healthy buildings across our asset class, and to build a healthy community, environment, city, state and nation.

“A healthy sustainable planet matters, a healthy environment matters and black and brown health matters,” Bush said.

TPP is on a mission to change the face of Black health by investing in and transforming five urban underserved Black neighbourhoods into integrated and scalable compact, dense and community-health and wellness-centric focused districts over the next 10 years.

The group will make investments of up to US$300m (€247.9m, £225.3m) in each neighbourhood and has a fund of US$100m (€82.6m,£75.1m) for the upcoming Tioga project.

In response to COVID-19, Delos will also support TPP to bring Delos’ advanced air purification solutions, along with broader health and wellness interventions, into other Black urban neighbourhoods in qualified opportunity zones throughout the US.

In addition, Delos was recently selected by the New York City Department of Education to provide its air purification units to NYC schools and will leverage its experience in the education sector as part of this collaboration.

“Now more important than ever, our health and wellbeing are fundamental to the economic growth of our communities,” said Scialla.

“By committing to leverage buildings and shared spaces within the Tioga District as vehicles for public health, TPP is demonstrating tremendous leadership across real estate and city planning, social impact and economic development.”