Penn officials expect to finalize ongoing negotiations for the purchase of the postal lands -- 24 acres of property located near 30th Street Station and currently owned by the Postal Service -- by January at the latest, a delay in the timeline predicted over the summer.
"Our discussions... are continuing, and everything's going along as planned," University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said.
The Board of Trustees in June approved $50.6 million for the purchase, which has been a goal of the University administration for roughly 30 years. Penn is working in conjunction with Amtrak, Drexel University, the Schuylkill River Development Corporation and the University City District to acquire the property.
Officials said this summer that they expected negotiations to be completed in the fall.
Doyle said that the process is taking longer than originally expected, but that such a delay is "not unusual" for "a $50 million dollar deal."
Expanding east -- which acquiring the postal lands would permit -- is Penn's last avenue for growth. Under University President Judith Rodin, Penn promised not to encroach further on neighborhoods to the west. Penn is bordered on the north by Drexel University and on the south by biomedical and health care facilities.
The postal property connects West Philadelphia to Center City. If Penn and its partners gain control of the area, officials expect it will induce economic development in Penn's neighborhood, James Cuorato, member of the Schuylkill River Development Corporation and City Commerce director, said over the summer.
Penn plans to use the area for multiple purposes. Specifically, Rodin has said that the land will be slated for biotechnological research facilities, along with other academic buildings and resources.
Using the land for recreational or commercial uses has also been discussed.
However, even once negotiations are complete, Penn will not actually gain control of the land until the spring of 2007, Vice President for Retail and Real Estate Services Omar Blaik said.
As a result, "there is ample time for us to decide on [how to use the land] as we finalize the deal in the next months," he said.
Furthermore, the University has agreed to "a 10-year lease back to the post office" of a significant portion of the property, Blaik said. Most likely, the earliest date at which Penn will begin actual construction on the property is 2017.
"Our focus right now is to finalize the deal and set the transfer of the properties in motion," he said.
