Rediscovering the 'smart side' of the city.
University City finds its 'turnaround path'
Natalie Pompilio
Inquirer Staff Writer
Contact: Lori Klein Brennan at 215 243 0555 x 227 or lori@ucityphila.org
July 12, 2004
Some of the builders working on University City's Abbraccio restaurant last year told co-owner Roger Harman they were surprised he'd chosen the location. Too far, too western, they sniffed.
"They even said, 'Who do you think is even going to come to this place?' " Harman recalled.
The restaurant, near 47th Street and Baltimore Avenue, opened a year ago.
It has been bustling ever since.
"I have people who come to the restaurant kicking and screaming, only there because their friends recommended it, and they're surprised when they see what a nice neighborhood this is," said Harman, who has owned restaurants in the area for 25 years. "There's a misperception about Penn and the immediate area."
At one time, many people did think University City was a faraway place, too dangerous to live in, too boring to visit.
But all that's changed, its supporters say. It's cleaner, safer, hipper, and just "Left of Center."
That's the new slogan that the University City District hopes will draw more people to this pocket of West Philadelphia, home to more than 46,000 people. The three-word motto "really captures what this neighborhood is about," said Lori Klein Brennan, the district's senior director of marketing and communications. "We hope people hear that and say, 'Wow. That's cool. I want to go there.' "
Some, like 30-year University City resident Harman, have long recognized the appeal of this two-square-mile patch of real estate just across the Schuylkill. Grand old homes, a large number of politically progressive neighbors, and a thriving intellectual environment led some to promote the area as the "smart side of Center City."
But that wasn't widely known outside the area, and even as few as five years ago, many had a different view of University City, according to a recent survey by Kanter International. But the survey showed that the perception of the neighborhood as unclean, unsafe and unfun was fading: Now, those who responded said they felt the area was safer, cleaner and home to some great ethnic restaurants.
To reinforce that opinion shift, the district has come up with a new marketing plan.
"Now we want to celebrate the things we see that define our neighborhood: It's international, diverse, progressive, funky, unique, intellectual, cultural," said Eric T. Goldstein, the district's executive director.
The neighborhood - which the University City District defines as roughly bordered by the Schuylkill, 50th Street, Spring Garden Street and Woodland Avenue - has been buzzing since the 1990s, helped by a University of Pennsylvania investment of more than $100 million in the community and the creation of the special services district in 1997.
Penn put money into adding residential and retail space, such as an upscale theater and a grocery store. The special services district - which, like others in Philadelphia, addresses economic development, improving quality of life, and marketing the area's assets - provides services to supplement the city's. Each year, for example, district employees take more than one million pounds of trash off the streets.
The median home price in much of the area has increased from $87,000 in 2000 to $160,000 in 2003, an 84 percent jump, according to Realist and TREND, two national companies that compile real estate data.
New businesses, particularly restaurants, are opening every month. The entertainment scene is thriving; besides a successful cinema, the neighborhood will soon welcome a new live-music venue when a long-vacant building on Walnut Street becomes the new home of campus radio station WXPN-FM and the World Cafe.
And more improvements are ahead. About $2 billion in construction projects are just completed, in the works, or forthcoming, Goldstein said. In 2006, Penn will take over the postal distribution center's lands along the Schuylkill, and plans for the area include a new park.
"I don't think anybody thought University City would be on the turnaround path in such a short time," Goldstein said.
Business owners such as Linford Martin hope the change continues. He bought the three-story Firehouse Farmers Market at 50th and Baltimore about a year ago. In that time, he has increased the vendors on his first floor from two to six, and seen more customers coming to peruse the fresh fruit, fish and meat for sale. That, despite the fact that some people "think this is a rough neighborhood and don't want to go that far west."
"It's the same way I'd feel about a neighborhood I don't know," said Martin, who lives a few blocks
from the market. "But I'm encouraged. There are more restaurants and shopping in the neighborhood right now. There's a new energy that's good for the avenue."
And it's really not that far from downtown, Klein Brennan, the district marketing director, said.
"A lot of people think we're six cab rides away. That's not the case," she said. "It's a seven-minute El ride from 40th and Market to the heart of Center City... Maybe one day, in 10 years, you'll be standing at 40th and Chestnut and that will be Center City."
University City District builds effective partnerships to maintain a clean and safe environment and to promote, plan and advocate for University City’s diverse, urban community.
Release Date: Friday, July 16th 2004
