'Aspirational, Achievable' Plan To Transform 30th Street Station District Unveiled
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It's a plan to transform 30th Street Station and the area around it into Philadelphia's 'next great neighborhood.'
All it needs is 35 years and $2 billion.
Artists' renderings envision the 'future' 30th Street as a gleaming transit hub with a giant domed skylight shining on a concourse with new retail spaces and easy connections between Amtrak, SEPTA, NJ Transit, and commuter buses.
"It anchors a dynamic, connected, livable, and inviting neighborhood, and creates an incredible gateway for this amazing city and a center for economic growth and opportunity."
Amtrak's Steven Gardner says the station District Plan includes 40 new acres of open space with public plazas on all four sides of the landmark: one could host events; another, a tree-lined promenade leading to the Schuylkill riverbank.
There's 18 million square feet of new development opportunity. An 88-acre neighborhood sitting atop the rail yards. PennDOT will look to re-align 30th Street's Schuylkill Expressway ramps. All this activity supporting millions more transit trips and thousands of new city residents and jobs by the year 2050.
Ambitious? Some might say audacious. But Drexel President John Fry says this 'distinctly Philadelphia' plan is achievable:
"One that will expand the city's entire economic base while creating new opportunities for all residents."