The waterfront park at Penn’s Landing in Philly has edged closer to realization as Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) pledged $100 million to the project which has been on the books for a decade. Despite this news, however, a timeline for the project has not been confirmed.
Sited between Walnut Street and Chestnut Street, an 11-acre park will cross the I-95 and Columbus Boulevard, becoming a cap-cum-esplanade on the banks of the Delaware River. In charge of the park’s design is planning and landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates. Senior principal of the firm’s New York office (the arm covering the project) Mary Margaret Jones told The Architect’s Newspaper that PennDOT would be “taking over” the scheme and Hargreaves Associates will begin working with fellow New York engineering practice Pennoni.
Jones explained that the news follows a “rigorous and comprehensive” feasibility study which was carried out by her firm and estimated costs to come to $250 million. The park is set to connect Center City to the river and activate the water’s edge as well as pave the way for establishing future development sites.
The 12-acre site will include 11 acres of public space, a 50-foot-wide pedestrian esplanade along the river, and opportunities for 1,500 new residences, 500 new hotel rooms, and 75,000 feet of retail space. In doing so, the project will replace the current Great Plaza with an angled park that slopes down to the river and frames views over the water. Additionally, the South Street Pedestrian Bridge across Columbus Boulevard will be extended to the southern edge of the Penn’s Landing marina basin.
According to the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, Hargreave’s study “concluded such an investment would yield nearly $1.6 billion in returns to the City, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the School District of Philadelphia.”
