PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: University City landlords, led by Amtrak, Drexel University, and Brandywine Realty Trust (builder of the nearby Cira towers), have picked Chicago-based multinational architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill L.L.P. to draw a new master plan they hope will lure construction to the 85-acre rail yards next to 30th Street Station and its nest of highway, street, and mass-transit links…
The 30th and Market area will link “Philadelphia’s business center with its intellectual heart in University City,” Drexel president John Fry said in a statement.
By agreeing on a master plan, the landlords hope they can win government support and taxpayer funding to cover the Amtrak and SEPTA train yards, and for walkways and road ramps that will open the covered space for development, reorienting the neighborhood toward the Schuylkill and Center City, and making it easier for foot, car, bus, train, and airline passengers to speed in and out, said Natalie Shieh, principal officer for Amtrak’s 30th Street Station Precinct Development Project… (more)
EDITOR: Sounds like a promising project. As we have repeatedly observed, “John Fry does the best possible things in the worst possible ways.”
