Drexel Rail Yard Study & Transit-Oriented Development

Drexel university has big plans for the Most Eastern fringes of University City North of Chestnut Street.  The university also is exploring a possible future neighborhood built over the SEPTA and AMTRAK rail yards near 30th Street Station.  Drexel approached AMTRAK and SEPTA with the idea of doing an engineering and air rights study, which Drexel will pay for.  in addition to the railroads, PennDOT, PIDC, the University of Pennsylvania, Brandywine Realty Trust, and Philadelphia Deputy Mayor for Transportation and Utilities Rina Cutler are involved in the discussions.

University President John Anderson Fry estimates the study will cost between $2 million and $3 million, and take about three years.  Putting some sort of cap over the rail yards could create 80 to 90 acres of development space, he said.

Drexel initiated the rail yard possibility because it is in the construction and planning stages of a list of projects around 30th Street Station, in hopes of transforming the neighborhood into a transit-oriented "Innovation Neighborhood" for education, research, technology and commercial entities.  the university is adding commercial space, a hotel, student housing and classroom space.  it hopes to bring some of the companies its students do cooperative study with into the neighborhood for both student work experiences and joint research.  It is also opening space up to other universities in the city and around the world.  Drexel will act as a Master planner for this project, but will have many other public and private partners.

30th and Chestnut Before

After

30th and JFK Before

After

31st and Market Before

After

Cira Center

As construction Progresses at the Grove at Cira Center South, there is still hope for Cira Center II Tower at 30th and JFK. The original concept is a beautiful design that would add tremendous appeal to the Philly and University City skylines.

Roof Top Pool at the Grove

Park atop Parking Garage

 

Cira Center I and II

Cira Center Development Proposal

38th and Chestnut Apartment Tower

A new apartment tower will rise at 38th and Chestnut Streets, developed by Radnor Property Group.  Radnor Property is purchasing the neighboring properties from the Episcopal Cathedral to build the apartment tower.  The purchase will also provide revenue to renovate the existing church building and fund the church's community programs.

Designed by BLT Architects, the 25 storey building will have 280 rental apartment units with retail at street level along both Chestnut and 38th Streets.  There will be a church community center and school, attached to the original church structure, and a day care center in the basement.  The developer are planning to break ground in September with an anticipate 2015 occupancy date.  The new tower will appeal to University City Science Center workers as well, as Drexel and Penn Students and Center City workers.

3601 Market Street Tower

The future apartment tower at 3601 Market Street will rise 310 feet with 27 floors, making it the tallest building in the Science Center and the tallest on Market Street in University City.  It will have 362 apartment units of different sizes, 15,000 square feet of retail space on Market and 36th streets, 194 parking spaces, and 121 bicycle parking spaces.

The facade of the tower will have large-paneled windows at the corner of 36th & Market, and staggered windows across the majority of the building with balconies.  The parking garage will be three levels above ground and visible above the retail portion, with an entrance on Filbert Street.  New street trees will also be planted along 36th street. Construction should be complete by Spring 2015.

Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; 3737 Market Street

As part of the University City Science Center's huge 1.5 million square foot expansion, 3737 Market Street will be home to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.  The institution will occupy 155,700 square feet of space.  the remaining 88,000 square feet in the tower will be controlled by the Science Center and its joint venture partner, Wexford Science & Technology.

Construction is moving at a progressive pace of the 11-story Class A mixed use facility, with the foundations and base complete, now you can see the steel skeleton rising in a few areas.

The building will have a steel frame and composite metal deck structural system.  The exterior wall will be a combination of insulated glass panels with crystal grey tinting and an aluminum-framed curtain wall with spandrel panels.  The ground floor will have granite stone veneer in keeping with the adjacent buildings.  The roof will be Energy Star thermoplastic with a modular green roof system.  The building will also be designed to LEED silver standards.

Completion is set for September 2014.

The Grove at Cira Center South

Cira Center South is finally moving forward.  Demo of what was left from the former demolition began a few months ago on the Narrow parcel on the Chestnut Street side of the project.  The future building, called the Grove at Cira Center South, will be the product of a partnership between Brandywine Realty Trust and Campus Crest Communities. 

The 33 story tower will contain units for 850 residents in apartments (not including guest) with rents starting at $1300/mo and costing $158.5 million. Brandywine expects Drexel students as well as Penn students will live in the tower.  The building will draw students toward the campus neighborhood and away from the West Philly and Center City housing.

New 24 Story Drexel Student Housing; Lancaster Square

Drexel University continues to expand developing the northern fringes of University City into a world class "live- work- lean" community.  The university plans to enroll 9000 new students, some of which will be online and through satellite campuses in the suburbs, but many of those students will be in need of housing on Drexel's main campus.  Drexel is planning a 24-story residential mixed use tower at 34th and Lancaster in Powelton Village.  The project would offer roughly 1,300 beds in about 350 suites for students.  It would include modern amenities such as private bathrooms, and have first-floor retail space catering to community residents.

The project, known all Lancaster Square, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz Architects out of Chicago, will be developed by American Campus Communities, which also built Chestnut Square.  It is part of the University's plan to bring students out of residential neighborhoods in Powelton Village and Mantua.  The Powelton Village Civic Association is concerned that the $165 million project still won't be enough to meet the demands as Drexel's enrollment climbs.

Images Courtesy of SBC

The project still needs approval from the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment because it exceeds the maximum density permitted at the site and contains less open space than is required.  This opposition may be in the end good for the university and the community, encouraging the University to develop the acres of parking lots along JFK and the current site of the Philadelphia Parking Authority.  There is plenty of land there to house thousands of student, create open space, and house additional educational and hospitality facilities.

Wistar Institute Research Building Update

The Wistar Institute at 36th and Spruce Streets is well underway with construction crews at work daily.  The new seven story glass and steel research tower is slated to open in 2014, providing a new home for the Institute's cancer center and will sit adjacent to the Institute's 117-year-old brick building.

The new building will help advance research at the Institute by providing more laboratory space for scientists to work together.  It will have an open space layout, completely conceived to foster collaboration.

LeBow College of Business

The LeBow College of business designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, is too moving along at a steady pace, like many projects today in University City.  Scheduled to be completed by the 2013-14 school year, the 12-story, 177,500-square-foot home for LeBow College of Business is located at the heart of Drexel University's campus, at the intersection of Woodland Walk and Market Street.  The diagonal massing of the lower floors follows Woodland Walk and combines with the completed Papadakis Integrated Science Building to energize the University's central quadrangle.

the building's organization unites the school's various constituencies around a five-story-high atrium, ringed by classrooms, student lounges, event spaces, and offices.  The third floor houses the Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship.  The atrium is immediately accessible from main entrances at the three corners of the building.  An open stair within the atrium leads to a 300-seat auditorium and 100-seat lecture hall below and to a divisible multipurpose room and additional classrooms.  The buildings upper floors contain faculty offices interspersed with seminar rooms and group study rooms.  The top floor houses the Dean's suite and a boardroom and conference suite.