Center City Philadelphia Renaissance

Peter Tobia / Inquirer. A crowd scene at Broad and Chestnut streets. Center City is gaining national recognition as a walkable urban environment, rich in tradition, history and the arts.

[Updated Wednesday]

Yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer has a nice front page (+ two full inside pages) on the "Center City Renaissance." From the article:

Though Philadelphia as a whole is still losing residents, Center City has the third-largest downtown population after New York and Chicago. Since 2000, its population has increased 11.5 percent, from 78,902 to 88,000. Experts say it could reach 96,000 to 105,000 by 2010.

Retail occupancy in Center City is now at 90 percent - 3 percent higher than 2004. This year, the Urban Land Institute listed Center City among the nation's top 10 for urban retailing.

By year's end, says a November report by the Center City District, 8,235 new housing units - new construction and condominium conversions of older buildings - will have been completed since 1997. By 2008, an additional 3,574 will be done - with 7,204 more proposed....

Philadelphia used to "agree to anything because we were desperate for people to invest in us," said William P. Becker, cofounder and chairman of the Design Advocacy Group. "We are way beyond that. To be a world-class city, we need to think like a world-class city."

And that, some say, involves a culture change that could go hand in hand with Philadelphia's new faces. Hugh C. Long II, Wachovia Bank's chief executive officer in Pennsylvania and Delaware, has called for business leaders to take a more active role in Philadelphia's future - including bidding for the 2016 Olympics.

"We are at the beginning of Center City's shining moment," he said. "Our job is to put a mechanism in place to make sure this shining moment lasts well beyond us and far into the future."
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Like DC, Philadelphia has had a hard time asking/demanding very much from developers, although I suppose that people caught up in and/or convicted in the ongoing bribery scandal might beg to differ. (See "Survey reveals a dim view of Phila. politics: Residents of the region were polled. The perception is that corruption in the city is widespread.")
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Wednesday Update

There is a follow up article in today's Inky, "How to maintain the momentum: Looks and services must improve, experts say." I've never met Paul Levy of the CENTER CITY DISTRICT Business Improvement District but everything I've seen of his work impresses me...

From the article:

Center City has become a European-style, walkable and visually stimulating urban environment where chance business and social encounters abound. Now comes the task of keeping the momentum going, say business and civic leaders...

"Philadelphia has become a terrific urban center with art, culture, public spaces - and a sufficient amount of corruption and mayhem to be a real city," said the Rev. Neale A. Secor, a semiretired Episcopal priest who moved here in 1984 from New York. "My sons, who were raised in New York City and have lived around the world, say, 'Finally, Dad, you're living in a happening place,' " Secor said.

But the happening people are among the most mobile of residents - young professionals and empty-nesters. Take them for granted, or bore them, and they will leave, warned Paul Levy, chief executive of the Center City District, a municipal services and economic development agency.

The challenges include continuing improvements in street cleanliness, developing more good schools, making mass transit friendly and reliable, building more housing that people who work in hospitality can afford, improving parks and public access to the rivers, modernizing the tax code, and creating more well-paying office jobs.
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DC has the same issues. How exciting is downtown, really? I do think issues of equity need to be addressed, and I do believe that making great places is about making places great for everyone, ranging from a focus on arts and culture, to quality schools and the ability to get around without being car-dependent.

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization