GMCS Editorial: A
great article on the significance of the economic engine that exists just west
of the Schuylkill River in our education and medical institutions.
If you've noticed the half-dozen or so construction
cranes that define the University City skyline these days, you may sense that
the foundation of Philadelphia's next-generation economy is rising before our
eyes. In many ways, an entirely new neighborhood is taking form on the western
banks of the Schuylkill.
Through this past summer, 82 percent of all office
construction in the region was happening in University City, on just 0.02
percent of the region's land mass. Over five years, 10 million square feet of
real-estate projects have been developed in the neighborhood. That's a $4.5
billion investment, establishing University City as home to 50,000 full-time
residents, 43,000 students, 73,000 jobs, and $1 billion in annual research and
development expenditures. Office occupancy has swelled to an enviable (and
regionally unrivaled) 96 percent. Retail thrives on former Walnut Street
parking lots and in erstwhile academic buildings on Chestnut.
But it's how University City will continue to advance in
the next decade that really bears watching.
We are in but the first phase of Philadelphia's biggest
bet yet to leverage its university and health-system strengths into
job-generating commercial growth: a transformation of the neighborhood's
eastern edge from academic and medical center to an integrated, mixed-used
economic engine.
And how we shape this area as some Philadelphia-specific
version of high-tech magnet Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., will be a
city-defining endeavor in the coming years.
The early returns are promising.
Penn's South Bank, Drexel's Innovation Neighborhood, the
Science Center's ongoing expansion, and the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia's investments in commercializing novel gene therapies all point to
a future inwhich emerging ventures, talented researchers, and established firms
locate near world-class universities and health systems, and at the midpoint of
a transit corridor that links 17 percent of the nation's population and 32
percent of its Fortune 500 companies.
In addition to the advantages of location, University
City has a chance to further differentiate itself from other would-be
innovation hubs across the country. Above all, it's anchored in an authentic
place.
To the west, a neighborhood of international cuisine,
Victorian homes, and eclectic retail beckons. To the east, accelerating efforts
to connect Center City and University City point to a not-so-distant future
with one continuous central business district, from Front Street to 40th.
Sense of place and strength of connection, in fact, are
flourishing every day. Investments like the Schuylkill River Trail, the Porch
at 30th Street Station, and Penn Park serve as a shared down payment on a West
Philadelphia extension of William Penn's vision of a thriving city knitted
together by verdant civic squares and a vibrant public realm.
Moreover, against the backdrop of a national conversation
on inequality, University City's growth ensues with equity and opportunity as
intentional elements in its design.
A federal Promise Zone abuts University City to the
north; its potential course is still to be determined, but its founders
envision a virtuous cycle of inclusive job growth and locally sourced and
trained workers to meet employers' needs. Individually, institutions like the
University of Pennsylvania have built nationally acclaimed engines for local
procurement. Collectively, Drexel, CHOP, Penn Medicine, and the University of
the Sciences partner to train and hire residents through the West Philadelphia
Skills Initiative.
Obstacles exist, and there will, for sure, be missteps.
Tremendous pressure on real-estate prices will require thoughtful strategies,
already underway in some quarters, to ensure that the social fabric of
neighborhoods remains intact. And the yawning gap in business formation means
that Philadelphia begins this economic development race many lengths behind. In
2013, for example, San Francisco Bay Area companies attracted $6.9 billion in
venture capital investment, and Boston area companies netted $3.1 billion,
while Philadelphia's meager $347 million was good for only 11th place among
U.S. metros.
Whether and how we begin to close this divide will drive
the availability of talent and resources required to feed Philadelphia's
greatest civic obligations, from quality schools and public safety to thriving
cultural institutions and pension solvency.
But what's happening in the 2.4 square miles
immediately west of the Schuylkill augurs a Philadelphia that gains greater
advantage from its special mix of "eds and meds" and transportation
assets. In a city hungry for private investment, job growth, and
opportunity, the economic possibilities stemming from an ascendant innovation
zone in University City - complementing a thriving Center City and a resurgent
Navy Yard - begin to offer a foothold for the 21st-century metropolis.
Source: Philly.com
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