Even before the official opening of the Penn-assisted elementary school in September 2001, the idea was seen as an unprecedented step toward linking the University and its surrounding community.
But despite the overwhelming praise that the school has received in the past several years and the dramatic social benefits that it has brought to many in the area, some community members have felt a series of unintended economic repercussions produced by the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander-University of Pennsylvania Partnership School.
The public school, subsidized by Penn through the Graduate School of Education, is expected to continually provide a superior level of education that is already being compared to private-level standards in its catchment area -- which is almost entirely within the Spruce Hill community, directly west of campus.
"I think from a social standpoint, what building a school has done is begun to stabilize the neighborhood," Spruce Hill Community Association President Nancy Roth said, "because now people feel comfortable staying and raising their children in the area."
But such high performance has also contributed to the steep increase in real estate prices throughout the school's catchment area. And according to some statistics given by local realtors, the original concerns over the stark division between "haves" and "have nots" that the school would create are in fact legitimate.
"Real estate prices for a two-story property ... are approximately $60,000 higher" in the catchment area, said Chris O'Donnell, vice president of O'Donnell Real Estate Inc., which is located in the area. And three-story houses are "anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 higher in the catchment area than they would be for a similar property outside the catchment area."
Many community residents point to such statistics when they claim that lower-income families are being displaced from the community in which they have resided for a long time. The socioeconomic makeup of the community, some argue, is rapidly becoming homogenous.
Some realtors noted that local residents are moving to the periphery of University City, where real estate prices remain reasonable. They have also witnessed the migration of lower-income groups like artists to other Philadelphia communities.
However, school advocates disagree with the assertion that the school has caused a displacement as rampant as many have claimed.
"In the catchment area, there are different levels of housing that currently support a diverse student body," Penn's Director for Community Relations Glenn Bryan said. "We have diversity in the school as a result of different housing options within the catchment area, whether they are houses or apartments."
Some community residents claim that, in fact, displacement is not the chief concern of the community at the moment.
"The fact is that single-family home ownership has risen six [percentage] points" in Spruce Hill, Roth said. "It's still far below the national average and continues to be at a level that is indicative of a low-income environment that would suggest that displacement is not the central issue for us at the moment."
But the fact remains that real estate prices in the catchment area have nearly tripled since 1998, according to several estimates. Such a steep increase is attributed to a confluence of national and local trends and not solely the cause of the Penn Alexander School.
However, the cost of rental units -- which comprise about 80 percent of the catchment area -- has increased at a significantly lower rate.
"The land east of 47th Street was always a little more valuable because it was closer to Penn," O'Donnell said. "But the differences are more magnified by the increases. And there is definitely a clear difference due to the catchment area."
