The walk eastward from the Penn campus to Center City is, as Penn President Amy Gutmann put it, "ugly."
But Gutmann says the school's planned eastward-expansion project, whose first phase is slated to cost $1.94 billion, will change that.
Gutmann and Stephen Starr, the famed Philadelphia restaurateur, formed the panel for a Philadelphia Talks lecture series event at the World Cafe Live last night. Gutmann's remarks focused on the potential of the plan to revitalize the Postal Service property east of campus. Penn will get the land next year.
Gutmann said that there has long been a psychological barrier between University City and Center City. Distance-wise, the walk between Rittenhouse Square and Center City is not long, but "passing by ugly and passing by nothingness" makes it feel longer, she said.
However, through developing housing, restaurants, retail centers and theaters and other arts and cultural centers, the "pretty bleak scene" on Walnut Street will be transformed to give it a "lively 24/7 edge," Gutmann said.
"Restaurants can completely ignite the renaissance," Starr added.
According to Gutmann, the plan calls for a pedestrian bridge and boardwalks to serve as connections from the Penn campus and West Philadelphia to Center City.
"The core of the vision is connectivity," Gutmann said.
The project will also turn 14 acres of asphalt parking lot into a park. More walkways and green space will make it attractive to walk, drive and bicycle in what is now the postal lands, Gutmann said.
Starr said that this project may give Penn an edge over other universities for students choosing between multiple colleges.
"They will see something [at Penn] they can't see anywhere else," Starr said.
Larry Platt, editor of Philadelphia Magazine and the moderator of the discussion, remarked that the new plan is a "somewhat expensive vision."
Gutmann responded by saying that it would "make us a better university." Aspects of city life such as restaurants and retail centers are a part of what makes University City "a magnet" that draws people in, she said.
The jobs which these developments will bring are an added benefit to the West Philadelphia community, according to Gutmann.
"There are no losers in this plan," she said. "The only challenge is to make it happen."
