Philadelphia: This is How To Develop An Amtrak Station.

[Metro Jacksonville]

Philadelphia: This is How To Develop An Amtrak Station.



The stunning new 6 billion dollar development plans combine an area of downtown, a nearby university, an Amtrak station, and very dense infill development.  While larger in scale, the basic principles are something Jacksonville should pay attention to. Frankly this kind of vision is what we are competing against in the national marketplace for developing 21st Century Cities. Check out the details after the jump.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2016-jul-philadelphia-this-is-how-to-develop-an-amtrak-station

[bencrix]

I'm happy for Philly. The environs of 30th Street station have always been a rather forlorn, windswept place. This would be a dramatic improvement, mirroring what is already one of the best part of the City across the Schuylkill - Ben Franklin Parkway. Philly has long been the NE's best kept secret. Maybe no longer.

[JaxJersey-licious]

Impressive to be sure, but not sure how realistic the commercial and retail goals are particularly when other Center City projects like the new Comcast Innovation and Technology Center (which will be the tallest skyscraper outside NY/Chicago) come online. Gotta love the moxie of such a proposal.

More excited about the proposed infrastructure improvements. Philly's 30th St. Station is one beautiful building but it seems so isolated from the rest of the city. Could use some new infrastructure and improved connectivity.

[Kerry]

So many lessons to be learned from the worlds largest cities that are re-inventing themselves as walkable cities (although Center City Philly is pretty walkable already), but cities like Jax just can't seem to let go of the automobile as the dominant mode of transportation, even in tiny little urban neighborhoods like Brooklyn.  It gets kind of depressing.

[coredumped]

That's not true, we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies.

[jaxlongtimer]

Note that this project complements the similarly master planned and adjacent Univ. of Pennsylvania "Penn Connects" multi-decade, multi-billion dollar efforts well under way to the the south and southwest of this project.  See below for an overview and progress report:

http://www.pennconnects.upenn.edu/index.php

If all these projects get done, Philly will essentially have a dual hub downtown, Center City and University City.  It's already well on its way.

And, to think, only 35 years ago, Philly had an unwritten but well-observed limitation on high rise buildings not exceeding William Penn's hat atop City Hall (about 50 stories) and University City was more like the rest of economically distressed West Philly than uptown Center City (although the seeds of transformation were already planted on the Penn and Drexel campuses).

What helps to make all this work, and that Jacksonville doesn't get, is a thoughtful, multi-use, collaborative, community based (not favoring one special interest over another) multi-decade master plan that developers can reliably expect to be adhered to. 

Also, while Jax sacrifices its significant downtown green space (Shipyards, JEA site, etc.), these plans work to preserve, add connectivity and/or create even more such spaces.  FYI, Fairmount Park that abuts and will be more fully connected to these projects is over 4,000 acres and was preserved as park space in the mid-1800's.  Where is such forward thinking here?