You think it's a trek to David Rittenhouse Laboratory -- but try making it to 30th and Market streets for an 8 a.m. recitation.
Acquiring 24 acres of land currently owned by the Postal Service near 30th Street Station risks presenting such a challenge for future Penn students.
But obtaining the property would connect Penn to Center City -- an integral component of the University's plans for expansion and overall improvement.
"In that competition to attract the best and the brightest, we are all under pressure to provide our students the best in terms of facilities," Vice President for Facilities and Real Estate Services Omar Blaik said. The "very aggressive competition among top-ranking institutions to provide state-of-the-art facilities for research, for housing, for academics..." is the main "driver of growth."
While Blaik said acquiring the postal lands would provide an opportunity for such facilities, the expansion eastward could risk a transformation of Penn's campus from a compact cluster of buildings to a sprawling set of facilities -- much like the campuses of other urban schools, such as New York University -- thus altering its current atmosphere.
For an "urban university like Penn, if it expands beyond a 15-minute walk from the center of the campus to the edges, you are definitely stretching the 'walkability' of the campus," Blaik said. "We have reached that edge with the postal land acquisition."
It would be easy "for people to feel lost and alienated" in such an environment, said Nick Behr, a sophomore in NYU's College of Arts and Sciences.
NYU -- which owns more property in New York than any other entity aside from the city itself -- is "not concentrated," Behr said.
"There are entire blocks that NYU owns, and then a block that they don't," he added. "A lot of people have transferred because they can't handle it."
But Blaik stressed that developing the postal lands will not dilute the center of campus, which "will continue to be defined by the core that is between 33rd and 38th [streets], and between Spruce and Walnut" streets.
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Rebecca Bushnell expressed her support of the purchase.
"The more space, the better, as long as we can preserve one of the strengths of Penn -- the compactness of it, the fact that everything is close by," she said.
"There's nothing in [the plans] that would change the life of any student in particular," Vice President for Government and Community Affairs Carol Scheman said. Classrooms are "not the kind of facilities deficit that exists."
"I feel that when you talk about the postal lands, we are only a couple of blocks away from the core. It is an issue of connectivity rather than moving the critical mass. We are not stretching it to edges that are not already connected," Blaik added.
Still, he said that with the purchase of the postal lands, Penn will have exhausted what he considers its realistic options for expansion.
Penn's expansion will also inhibit some physical growth of the neighboring campus of Drexel University, but officials there say they too will benefit from the sale of the postal lands.
"Everyone wins with the redevelopment of the postal property," Drexel spokesperson Kevin Kaufman wrote in an e-mail statement. "The traffic congestion at 30th and Market streets will be alleviated."
Additionally, Co-Director of the Urban Studies Department Elaine Simon noted the positive effects of improving what Blaik referred to as an "industrial wasteland."
"In terms of urban redevelopment... of course it pays back to the campus when you have an economically healthier and... a more sensible environment for a university," Simon said.
Even students have expressed support of the University's growth.
"They could build a new college" within the University, Wharton freshman Chris Bennett said. "They could build new housing. I think the whole idea's great."
However, "imagine having to walk from Gregory all the way to 30th Street... in the winter," he added. "Sometimes [the purchase] wouldn't benefit the student."
But he said the real downfall, in his opinion, would be creating a sense of safety for students on the new land.
"They would have to extend Locust Walk, or something that's central to campus, to make you feel safe," he said.
Others in the community -- such as Larry Falcon, a member of Neighbors Against McPenntrification -- object to Penn's efforts, however.
University President Judith Rodin "says development," Falcon said. "We say displacement. Let's call the whole thing off."
Vivian Nachmias, a West Philadelphia resident, expressed similar reservations, noting that she hoped Penn's plans would take into consideration those of the local community.
"One would like to be sure that the original ideas -- that would be public access to this nice hiking path -- [are] not going to be shelved."
