Imagine a garden in front of the Palestra and an athletic facility that rivals the historical value of Franklin Field.
These are just two of the ideas Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky has for how to integrate Penn Athletics into the postal lands recently purchased by the University.
Bilsky said that this newly acquired land could be used for athletic purposes as soon as two to five years from now.
He also said that strategizing for this project will be Penn Athletics' most time-consuming task in the coming years.
"We need to really think that this is our one shot at creating something spectacular, not just from a visual standpoint but also that it satisfies all the unmet needs that have existed here from a long period of time," Bilsky said.
"We don't want to create something we have one shot at only to have it fall short," he said.
The postal lands will be part of the third phase of Bilsky's plan to revamp Penn Athletics facilities since he became athletic director in 1994.
The first phase renovating current facilities, the second phase was to update "self-directed activity" -- which culminated in the opening of the $20 million Pottruck Center in 2002 -- and the third phase will focus on "team-oriented work."
For this, Bilsky will examine the new postal property, the Class of 1923 Ice Rink and the indoor and outdoor tennis courts as space that can be updated or totally changed, depending on the final plan.
Penn Athletics' top priorities for the land east of 33rd Street is to build a "multifaceted all-purpose" fieldhouse and more outdoor playing fields for varsity, club and intramural sports.
"We could have indoor soccer, lacrosse, an indoor running track and could also have concerts and commencements there," Bilsky said. "An all-purpose fieldhouse would be the crowning blow of not only our overall plan but the University's master plan as well."
With the fieldhouse would also come a new swimming facility, whether it will be inside the fieldhouse or as an adjacent entity.
"Right now we have one main swimming facility that has to house varsity teams, club teams and the University population," Bilsky said. "We have 15,000 members -- the Pottruck Center isn't enough."
The fieldhouse would not feature any basketball facilities or any athletics already covered by the Palestra or Franklin Field.
"It's a nice thing that we don't have to duplicate things that we already have in place," Bilsky said. "It would augment what we already have and bring in new things."
Bilsky envisions an "athletic village" east of 33rd Street.
"Rather than just buildings, we would have a precinct or a quadrant in the same way you would look at Locust Walk or College Green, so that there's a rhyme or reason to it," he said.
Bilsky said that Penn Athletics has already had preliminary "on-campus discussions" with Facilities Services about what to do with the ground.
Bilsky not only accepts that the land will be used for other University purposes such as academic and residence halls -- he encourages it because of the dynamism the extra units would bring to the space.
"When most people look at the University from an athletic standpoint, they see this side of 33rd Street and come down here either to watch a game or play a game," Bilsky said. "What I imagine down the line is that this will be a vibrant area where people will come down here for a lot of reasons -- to live here, to work here, to play here or to get a bite to eat."
While no definitive plans have been made to eliminate any current athletic facilities east of 33rd Street, such thoughts are being considered for some of the University's large-scale ideas for the space.
One thought is to extend Locust Walk past 33rd Street, through the "athletic village" all the way to the Schuylkill River, where a walking bridge would extend it to Locust Street in Center City.
If this were to happen, the Lott Tennis Courts outside the Palestra could potentially be moved to make way for Palestra Green -- another park to add to the village.
The future of the Class of 1923 Ice Rink remains a question mark. Business Services took over its maintenance after Penn eliminated its intercollegiate hockey program.
The next step for Penn Athletics is to "strategize," by discussing what its most critical needs are and how much it will cost to finance them.
Even with estimates in the tens of millions of dollars, Bilsky is optimistic about the village's completion.
"I'm not saying we're far into this," he said. "The plan could take 50 years to come into fruition, and it probably will.
"It's the last bit of open land the campus has. ... That's how incredible this stuff is. The potential is unlimited."
