Category 30th street station

Cira Centre South plans for “The Grove”

Rendering of the 33-Story housing complex

 
Well, it looks like Cira Centre South is finally about to break ground on 1 of the 2 proposed buildings for land right next to 30th Street Station.

The Grove at Cira Centre South is a joint partnership between Brandywine Realty and Campus Crest Communities, and will be built on the premise that UPenn will fill it with student housing.

What a great deal for all involved!

Brandywine can finally get this project moving (with the hopes of starting another building, per the original plan), Campus Crest will get an opportunity to cash in on the Philadelphia student housing market, and the University of Pennsylvania gets a top-notch housing complex that it can market to both prospective and existing students.

This is also great news for Philadelphia.

More construction equals more jobs, and more money spent in the immediate area while it’s being built, as well as when it has been completed. It also helps bridge the natural divide (aka The Schuylkill River) by continuing UPenn’s eastern expansion plans.

The cherry-on-top is that this project supports TOD, and will be located next to the 3rd busiest rail transit hub in the US (30th Street Station).

Can Drexel University create and build an “Innovation Neighborhood” … over rail yards?

Inside 30th Street Station

 
It’s a tall order, that’s for sure.

John Fry is Drexel’s current president. He’s also a former UPenn higher-up (behind then-president Judith Rodin), as well as Franklin & Marshall’s former president. Despite not having the typical credentials of an esteemed university president (e.g. dean/provost job experience, research/teaching expertise, doctorate degree, etc.), Fry has catapulted his way to being the leader of one of the most respected universities in the US on an NYU MBA and good, old-fashioned entrepreneurial spirit; pretty impressive.

So why does Fry want to build on top of Philadelphia rail yards?

Is it because Chicago has done it successfully (e.g. Millennium Park)?

Is it because both New York and DC are also in the planning stages of rail yard projects?

My guess is no.

Just look at where these rail yards are in Philadelphia. As you go east on the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76 East to all the the out-of-towners) and approach Center City, the yards are on the right next to 30th Street Station and the Cira Center. In other words, very prime Philadelphia real estate.

The trick is can a platform be built, and enough new development created on top of it, to cover the cost of materials/labor (i.e. Philadelphia union labor)? That is what Fry is set on finding out, and a few million dollars says he’ll have the answer to that question in about 2 years.

I’ll keep my eye out for further news on this topic.