Posted Feb 28, 2023, 6:16 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Philadelphia
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With 13,500 new housing units planned, Center City District says there's 'no reason for pessimism'
Quote:
Continued residential development and population growth is keeping Center City vibrant and helping to offset sluggish return-to-office rates, according to a new report on housing trends and economic development from Center City District.
“The mixed-use downtown is a huge competitive asset for us,” Center City District CEO Paul Levy said while presenting the report's findings Monday.
The area in and around Center City is home to almost half of the new housing construction in Philadelphia, and that residential development isn't projected to slow anytime soon.
At the end of 2022, there were 13,544 units under construction or with active permits in Greater Center City, defined as the area from Girard Avenue to Tasker Street and from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River. That accounted for 48% of the citywide total. Those new units could be delivered by the end of 2025, representing an average annual supply increase of 2.5% — the same rate as Greater Center City’s average population increase from 2010 to 2020.
That construction activity is spreading outward from Center City, with the highest concentration now taking place in Northern Liberties, Fishtown, near Temple University and along the Delaware River.
Greater Center City accounted for 2,805 new housing units last year, about half of the 5,853 total units added across the city.
That means 5.8% of the city’s land was home to 48% of the city’s total supply of new housing. Four ZIP codes immediately adjacent to Greater Center City accounted for another 27% of new units delivered.
Greater Center City’s population has been rising for decades, growing from 146,848 in 1990 to 203,484 in 2020, a 39% increase. In the core of Center City, from Vine Street to Pine Street, the population has increased from 39,789 to 69,100 during that time, a 74% increase.
“We’re no longer an office district or just a commercial core,” Levy said. “… This is what mixed-use looks like.”
The continued residential growth has helped drive activity in the area despite the continued absence of many office workers who crowded Center City streets prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In January, pedestrian volumes in Philadelphia’s office district were still only 44% of what they were in January 2019, according to anonymized cell phone data from Placer.ai. Though that number has been around 40% since August, Levy doesn’t believe it’s plateauing, instead citing a slow rise since the start of last year when the rate was around 20%.
With a new mayor to be elected in November, Levy said priorities should be safety and cleanliness. He emphasized working with neighborhoods rather than having parts of the city competing against each other.
“There’s no reason for pessimism about what’s going on within Center City,” Levy said. “I think in the housing market and a return to work, much slower than I might like, but moving in the right direction and we just need to do more to get there, to get it back.”
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Read/view more here:
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...ng-growth.html
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finally. I look forward to the day I can go out to eat in Old City and stroll down to the river through a beautiful new park. A great moment for Philadelphia
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