[summersm343]

Philadelphia Science Center struggles to be more than another generic innovation district

In case you’ve lost track of the various innovation districts under construction in Philadelphia, uCity Square is the one just north of Market Street, between 36th and 38th, in the border land between the Drexel and Penn campuses. Drexel and its development partner, Wexford Science + Technology, created the concept for the research center after acquiring the 14-acre site — once home to the University City High School — from the school district in 2014.

At the moment, the property is still a vast expanse of brown dirt, an empty zone between the University City Science Center on Market Street and the leafy residential streets of Powelton Village. But in a few short months, an entirely new neighborhood will start to take shape there. Already, you can see the concrete foundations of a new Drexel-sponsored public school rising along 37th Street, soon to be uCity Square’s main street. Next week, Drexel and Wexford will seek approval from the city’s Civic Design Review board to erect a 12-story academic tower next door so the university can move its nursing school from Center City to its main campus.

Wexford also is powering ahead with its own projects, including a 14-story research tower aimed at biotech companies and a 463-unit apartment building that will front on Lancaster Avenue. A hotel has been penciled in for the corner of 37th and Filbert. In an interview, Drexel President John Fry also confirmed what has long been an open secret, that the university is setting aside an asphalt lot at 36th and Warren for a new art museum, the Philadelphia Contemporary.

Read more here:
https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate...-20200103.html