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A Civic Vision
From far left: The SS United States is docked in the heart of the big-box district. The Girard Avenue Interchange terminates streets before they reach the riverfront.
• Largely private ownership of riverfront land. • The ten-year property tax abatement which has stimulated development but is also a missed opportunity for capturing future property tax value for public infrastructure investment. • The lack of a comprehensive civic vision that balances public good with quality urban development.
• Strategic public investment in infrastructure (street grid, boulevard, parks), yielding significant private investment returns and increased public revenues. • Existing public access points (Penn’s Landing, Penn Treaty Park, Pulaski Park) as starting points for new riverfront parks and open
• An existing rail infrastructure as basis for future mass
Potential
transportation infrastructure.
• Strong neighborhood communities bordering the central Delaware.
• The potential for creative funding sources for future
• An existing Philadelphia street framework that allows for potential
infrastructure investment.
“green” connective corridors to the river from adjoining communities.
• A working port as a growing economic driver for the city.
• Development pressure that will spur neighborhood expansion to the
• Large, undeveloped parcels as potential sites for new
river and provide the density necessary to support park space, retail,
urban destinations.
• Future job growth in the working port, construction, riverfront hospitality and retail fields.
New proposals call for high-rise residential towers near some of Philadelphia's oldest streets.
spaces. • A historic legacy as the site of earliest Philadelphia settlements.
mass transportation and quality public investment in civic infrastructure.
Unchecked riverfront development has caused a chaotic mix of uses.
• A planned I-95 rebuild and improved design during current rebuilding process. • Developing partnerships between public, private and non-profit entities.
The Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing is an opportunity for a continuous open-space network on the river. Highway infrastructure is most tangled and disruptive at the Ben Franklin Bridge. Richmond Street is a mixeduse corridor at the northern end of the project area. The Sparks Shot Tower, built for munitions production in 1808, is still visible from Columbus Boulevard near the I-95 on-ramp.