PHILADELPHIA, PA – With everyone itching to get outside again as the weather warms up, Philadelphians will be excited to learn that a new quarter mile park is opening this summer.
Source: New park built on elevated railroad tracks to open this summer in Philadelphia | PHL17.com
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The Center City District (CCD), Central Philadelphia Development Corporation (CPDC) and Center City District Foundation (CCDF) work together to enhance the vitality and competitiveness of Philadelphia’s downtown. In 1991 the business leadership organization CPDC created the CCD business improvement district to deliver daily services with the goal of making Center City clean and safe. This helped transform Center City into a vibrant 24-hour downtown, attractive to businesses, residents, students, shoppers and tourists. In addition, the CCD is responsible for the management of Dilworth, Sister Cities, John F. Collins and Cret Parks, four extraordinary public spaces in the heart of Center City. CCDF, the charitable affiliate of the CCD, was launched in 2016 to support the next generation of public space improvements in Center City Philadelphia.
© 2017 Center City District | Central Philadelphia Development Corporation | Center City District Foundation.
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| Brought to you by the Center City District and Central Philadelphia Development Corporation 660 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 |
BY JAKE BLUMGART
For years, the area north of the Vine Street Expressway, now most commonly known as Callowhill but considered Chinatown North to many, hosted many small factories and warehouses servicing the historic neighborhood’s many restaurants.
“Connecting Chinatown North to the historic core has always been the challenge for this Chinatown,” said Kathryn E. Wilson, Associate Professor of History at Georgia State University and author of the 2015 book Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. “There was always Chinatown North [of Vine Street], but the expressway really cut off the top part of that community. A lot of what neighborhood planning has done since then is try to bridge that.”
That challenge is different than it used to be. Callowhill is undergoing a renaissance. The increasing number of old factories and warehouses being converted into condos and apartments, has led some developers to aspirationally call it “the Loft District.”
When we wrote about Callowhill as a possible site for Amazon’s HQ2 project, Azavea CEO Robert Cheetham chimed in wearing his other hat: that of board member on the Callowhill Neighborhood Association.
“There is an enormous amount of land that is largely unused and the connections to the rest of the transportation network are stronger than the Navy Yard,” Cheetham wrote on the comments section. “It would be a unique and extraordinary place for their headquarters.”
Of course, we had to hear more, so we caught up with the B-Corp boss at Azavea’s Callowhill HQ (on the 5th floor of 990 Spring Garden) to hear his thoughts on the project that dozens of cities are vying for.
Read More: Azavea CEO on Amazon HQ2: ‘A chance for Philly to land this would be fabulous’ – Technical.ly Philly
Bryan Hanes, designer of the first phase of the Rail Park, likes to think the highly anticipated park will give visitors a glimpse of Philadelphia they’ve never seen before. The same way developments near the rivers have brought residents to places where only industry once stood, the Rail Park will do the same above the ground.
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Construction on the Rail Park is shaping up quite nicely, according to these new drone images and videos that captured the train line-turned-future-park from above.
Source: Here’s what Philly’s Rail Park looks like from above – Curbed Philly
The “North Poles,” as they’re called, have spent the past few months undergoing some tweaks and enhancements, long after the city first installed the 55-feet-tall masts in late 2016. The newly-formed community and economic development group North Broad Renaissance was tasked with hiring a contractor to install upgraded LED lights for the poles—the initial lights were too faint for the naked eye—and maintain general upkeep of the 2.5-mile art installation between Wood Street and Glenwood Avenue.
Source: Here’s what the North Broad poles look like after $57K enhancements – Curbed Philly
