Drexel looking for master developer for its Innovation Neighborhood

Drexel University is seeking a master developer for its so-called Innovation Neighborhood, a 10-acre swath in University City that, when built out, could have more than 5 million square feet of new space.

It would be an investment that would cost billions of dollars once completed and take years to complete.

The idea for the Innovation Neighborhood is transformational for Drexel and goes toward its goal of becoming among the most competitive universities in the country. It would also continue to position Philadelphia as a major research and innovation hub along the East Coast and compliment plans by the University City Science Center and the University of Pennsylvania to expand innovation districts around its campuses.

The area that would be developed is next to Drexel's main campus and adjacent to 30th Street Station. Although it's in University City, it sits at the foot of Center City and its Central Business District.

Drexel has retained JLL to help guide the university in its search for a master developer.

“Such transformative ideas are best achieved with strong comprehensive partnerships,” said John A. Fry, Drexel’s president in a statement. “Drexel envisions a partnership with a world-class developer who will share and expand the university’s vision to redefine the gateway to University City with a blend of education, research, commercial, retail, hospitality and residential uses.”

Proposals from prospective developers are due Oct. 31. Drexel expects to narrow down a list of lead contenders by February. Between February and April, an agreement, which would include a 99-year ground lease on the land, is anticipated to be hammered out.

The master developer will be tasked with marketing the project to “pioneering organizations and advance America’s next great innovation district,” the school said in a statement.

University City is thriving and some recent statistics show that. For example, the office submarket has the third lowest downtown vacancy in the country at 2.8 percent; since 2011, 3.4 million square feet of new office space has been constructed in the submarket; projects totaling $3.5 billion have been completed or now under construction; and it is experiencing the highest rate of millennial population growth in the region of 6.1 percent between 2006 and 2012.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal