Drexel University has selected Brandywine Realty Trust to
develop an expanse of mostly school-owned property between its campus and 30th
Street Station into an enclave of offices, academic buildings, homes, shops and
parks.
The 125-year-old university and Philadelphia's biggest
office landlord plan to build about 8 million square feet of floor space -
equal to about six-and-a half Comcast Center towers - over the next several
decades, beginning with the redevelopment of a strip of parking lots and
industrial buildings north of Market Street.
Drexel President John Fry and Brandywine's chief executive
officer, Jerry Sweeney, were set to formally announce their plans for what will
be known as Schuylkill Yards together at a Wednesday afternoon event.
"Drexel has always believed there's a superior use
for this unique location - essentially the 50-yard-line of the Eastern Seaboard
- as a neighborhood built around collaboration and innovation," Fry said
in a statement ahead of the formal announcement. "The time is right to put
this vision into action."
Development of the project, which Drexel had previously
referred to as its Innovation Neighborhood plan, will take place in multiple
phases, combining existing buildings and new tower structures, according to the
release.
Work will occur on 14 acres - a space about twice the
size of Rittenhouse Square - on the eastern edge of Philadelphia's University
City district of educational, medical and research institutions.
The project will begin with the creation of a 1.3-acre
park on what's now a parking lot west of the train station. The former offices
of The Bulletin newspaper, a 1950s building since redubbed One Drexel Plaza, is
also soon to be renovated.
Radnor-based Brandywine Realty Trust will oversee a team
that includes residential developer Gotham Organization Inc. of New York and
life-sciences specialists Longfellow Real Estate Partners of Boston. Schuylkill
Yards will be the first project in Philadelphia for both firms.
New York's SHoP Architects will develop the project's
streetscape and architectural standards, while Dutch firm West 8 designs its
landscapes.
Brandywine has already made a substantial mark on the
area with projects that include the Cira Centre building, the redevelopment of
the former 30th Street Main Post Office, and the now-under-construction FMC
Tower.
Those projects "will provide a synergistic
connection to Schuylkill Yards, creating a seamless access point to Center City
and strengthening the eastern edge of University City as a whole," Sweeney
said in the release. "Together, we will create a dynamic and world-class
innovation hub to attract the brightest minds to our region."
Source: Philly.com
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