University
City, a neighborhood in central Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River, is in
for some major changes in the coming decades, thanks to a new redevelopment
initiative from Amtrak with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation
Authority (SEPTA), BrandywineRealty Trust, and Drexel University. 30th
Street Station will be the center point of the overhaul, which is part of a
vision to build a dense urban neighborhood over a rail yard along the river.
The
redevelopment site consists of a total of 175 acres in University City, 88 of
which are occupied by the rail yard. The report and renderings released in the 30th
Street Station District Plan are the culmination of a two-year study of the
site, which extends east of Drexel’s campus, between Walnut and Spring Garden
streets, and northeast from 30th Street Station.
The
ambitious plan will be put into place over the course of 35 years, starting
with capping off the existing Amtrak rail yard to accommodate a proposed 10
million square feet of development. The area will see a total of 18 million
square feet of new development and will include housing for ten thousand
residents. It will also offer 1.2 million square feet of commercial space to an
individual corporate or institutional tenant.
Currently,
30th Street Station serves as one of the central hubs for Amtrak
trains on the East Coast and is also a stop on the SEPTA Regional Rail line.
The station building, along with the rail yard, is owned by Amtrak and was last
renovated in 1991. One prominent feature of the station is the Pennsylvania
Railroad World War II Memorial, a 28-foot bronze sculpture of Michael the
archangel.
The
project is expected to cost $6.5 billion, with $2 billion going to
infrastructure investments and the other $4.5 billion to private investment. Among
the infrastructure improvements may be the relocation of a ramp for the Schuylkill
Expressway in favor of an intercity bus terminal. A new pedestrian plaza will
surround the existing train station.
Preliminary
renderings put emphasis on expanding parks and public spaces, as well as adding
high-rise commercial and residential buildings to the area. According to the
official report released by the district, an opportunity exists for the plaza
around the station to become a “central civic space,” akin to the one at city
hall. The station saw 11 million passengers last year, and the district
expects ridership to double by 2040, following Amtrak
and SEPTA improvements. The development counts on this ridership to anchor
growth around the station.
The
name University City was coined as a marketing tactic, in the 1950s, as part of
a gentrification effort, to encourage faculty of the University of Pennsylvania
and, to a lesser degree, Drexel University to move there.
This
redevelopment isn’t the first sign of growth for the neighborhood. Much of University
City is a designated “Keystone Innovation Zone,” a program started by the state
of Pennsylvania to encourage start-up companies to populate Philadelphia. The
program offers tax breaks of up to $100,000 annually for businesses younger
than eight years old operating in the Innovation Zone. New companies in the
science and research fields are also drawn to the incubator at the University
City Science Center, which is in the process of a major expansion. According to
a recent report, firms that were incubated at the Science Center bring $12.9
billion to the Greater Philadelphia economy each year.
Amtrak’s
first steps are expected to be finalizing the design of the pedestrian plaza
and receiving permission from PennDOT to relocate the highway ramp. More detail
on the plan can be found here.
Source: The
Architects Newspaper
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