Also this issue:

Truly Abele
Julian Francis Abele may be the most famous architect you’ve never heard of.
-Deborah Bolling

February 20-26, 2003

cityspace

Manny Digs It

by Daniel Brook

Philadelphia may perceive itself as a city that doesn't think big, but the truth is surprising. In 1925, planners tore a gash through the street grid, inserting a diagonal boulevard bordered by parkland -- the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. In 1950, the city took down the train yards just west of City Hall, clearing land for what ultimately became a new central business district. In 1975, city planners connected the three downtown train stations with a commuter tunnel. Now, says Manuel Stamatakis, the chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), Philadelphia must again think big. His idea is to cover I-95 between Market Street and South Street, and he has put some preliminary money behind the project, commissioning a study by three Drexel professors. The report calls for building new office space and upscale apartments on top of the sunken highway, a la Boston's "big dig" project. In Stamatakis' view, "If it were done right, it would cause more development to take place," ultimately revitalizing the whole stretch of Center City east of City Hall.

Naysayers claim that a city that isn't growing can only shift around building occupants by constructing more office and residential space. But Stamatakis believes an ambitious undertaking like this "can bring developers from all over. It would be the type of project that would be unique enough that it would attract attention. That's how you get growth."

The report estimates it would take about a billion dollars to get the project done -- a fraction of the price tag on Boston's vastly over-budget, and still incomplete, development. Most of the cash would have to come from the federal government, Stamatakis says, the same source of revenue Boston has tapped.

So is this just pie in the sky? There's only one way to find out, Stamatakis says: Try it. "You do the research, you do the legwork and you get the project on lists. Once it's on the list you never know."

According to the DRPA head, the first step is to see if the local community is behind it. If it is, he'll talk to some legislators and get it on the proverbial lists. And then he'll keep his fingers crossed.