Open Space

Using pathways, open green spaces, and athletic fields, Penn Connects links the core of campus to new land to the east with several envisioned developments:

1. Palestra Green — new public green in front of the historic Palestra enabled by relocating the existing tennis courts to the new urban park and fields. With its design echoing the character of College Green, it will add a vital urban public park to this academic and athletic precinct on 33rd Street. It will also be the starting point for the new Franklin Field Promenade.
2. Franklin Field Promenade — a new east-west walkway extending Locust Walk along the north arcade of Franklin Field. It will create a strong visual and physical connection from the core campus toward the new urban park and ultimately link to the proposed Schuylkill River pedestrian bridge.
3. Franklin Field Plaza and Stairs — a public plaza and overlook that bridges the SEPTA Rail line and features a broad stair with access down to the new park and fields.
4. Penn Park — a park landscape accessible for public use that is an extension of the College Green environment, including recreation and outdoor sport field venues, with provision for a seasonally enclosed field.
5. Schuylkill Promenade — a raised walk along the eastern park border, parallel to the river, linking Walnut Street to South Street.
6. Museum Plaza — Located on part of the existing Penn Tower site the plaza will provide a much needed public open space in the densely developed medical and cultural district.

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Land Use and New Development

The Plan proposes that Walnut Street, as a main artery of campus and University City stretching from 30th- 40th Streets, fills in vacant or underutilized spaced with a mix of academic, commercial and residential uses.

1. Walnut Street Gateway redevelopment (north side) — Accommodates mixed-use development that could include retail, office, residential and parking. An estimated 1.3 million square feet could be provided on the site in a combination of podium and tower development. Two towers are proposed. The 20 story north tower and the 45 story south tower are planned over an 8-story podium. The result is a complex of buildings defining the Chestnut, Walnut and Schuylkill Avenue street edges with active uses and strong architectural expression.
2. Walnut Street Gateway development (south side) — One of the most important tenets of the plan is a high rise development that mixes residential, office and retail along Walnut Street as signature building creating a new front door to Penn, and provide better linkages to Center City.
3. 3200 Walnut Development (south) — A long term plan is to redevelop this block for academic and research uses.
4. 3200 Walnut redevelopment (north side) — Consistent with the broader planning concept of creating a “learning” corridor along Walnut Street, redevelopment of this pivotal block is proposed to accommodate a 100,000 square-foot of Nanotechnology facility, replacing a surface parking lot with active uses to enliven the street and pedestrian experience.
5. New College House on Hill Square — The program for the proposed facilities on the site include 342 beds in suite style units, resident assistant units, house master apartment and faculty apartments. Common facilities include a dining hall, servery and kitchen, a café, lounges, computer rooms, and music rooms. The total program proposed for the site is 198,000 gross square feet.
6. 3400 Walnut revitalization — The Plan recommends relocating administrative functions out of the core of campus to other areas, and replace Franklin Building and Annex with 150,000 square foot four-story academic building.
7. 3700 Walnut revitalization — The Plan provides a design direction for redeveloping this site to accommodate core academic functions by illustrating how the site could be redeveloped to accommodate 200,000 square feet of space over 5-6 floors, to consolidate all Wharton School functions adjacent to their recently completed facility.
8. 3900 Walnut redevelopment — The Radian is a $70 million redevelopment on the 3900 block of Walnut and will provide nine stories of apartments over a two-story retail base includes approximately 478 beds configured in one-, two- and four-bedroom units conducive to student living, 30,000 sf of two-story retail spaces along Walnut and Sansom Streets (with outdoor dining options), and resident amenities. The building will incorporate such “green” features as a vegetated roof, daylighting strategies, and high efficiency building systems.

The Plan proposes that the east campus be designated for Penn Park, a network of recreation and athletic fields, also includes several new buildings and renovations.

1. Weight Training and Fitness Center at Franklin Field — The proposed plan captures the first two bays of the arcade at the ground and second level. The new uses: varsity weight room, recreation fitness center, and retail are separated by the existing gates to allow for a greater diversity of programs and users at the ground floor/pedestrian level.
2. Palestra and Hutchinson Gymnasium Renovation — These key buildings in the athletic precinct are renovated and remodeled to enhance space for practice and athletic events, as well as locker rooms, and common areas.
3. Indoor Track — The program for the indoor track intends to accommodate a standard indoor oval track and related functions. These include a flat 200m track with up to 6 lanes, a straightaway for sprints and hurdles, and space for throwing and jumping events.
4. South Street Garage — The construction of a synthetic infill turf field on top of the future parking garage adjacent to South Street Bridge to accommodate NCAA women’s field hockey.

Penn’s growing medical campus is expanding and the Penn Connects plan envisions 1.55 million square feet of research and medical facilities between the Highline and the river South of South Street.

1. Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine — The Raymond and Ruth Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine will be a 360,000gsf outpatient facility, providing state-of-the-art technology and the most advanced patient treatment options available. Phase 1 of the new Center, opening in early 2008, will include the Abramson Cancer Center, a new cardiology center, and outpatient surgical pavilion — all in a physical environment the patient’s comfort and convenience are paramount.
2. New Research Building, School of Medicine — a $370 million, state-of-the-art biomedical research facility will be physically integrated with the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine and the Roberts Proton Therapy Center now under construction. The focus of the research building will be to house research initiatives that integrate the range of biomedical disciplines required to achieve advances in the understanding of disease and the development of new therapies. In addition to biomedical laboratories, the building will include clinical/patient-oriented research facilities. The biomedical research facility is scheduled to open in the summer of 2010.
3. Roberts Proton Therapy — The Roberts Proton Therapy Center, part of the Abramson Cancer Center at Perelman, will be a first-of-its-kind proton therapy center for the treatment of cancer.

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Connectivity

The Plan provides an integrated approach to transportation.

Pedestrian — The plan focuses on a network of safe, convenient pathways linking with major SEPTA bus and rail stations in University City, and extending three major existing routes including Locust Walk, Woodland Walk, and 36th Street, and links the core campus with the new land to the east and Center City.

Bicycle Connections — Extend routes through the east campus area following the major streets surrounding the campus core, including Walnut, Spruce, 33rd, 34th, and 40th Streets. New routes are proposed along Lower 31st Street as well as east/west connections linking to the proposed Schuylkill River Bridge.

Vehicular Access and Parking — Access is provided to the Walnut Street Garage, central sports fields, Palestra complex, and South Street Garage via lower 31st Street, which will ramp upward to the level of South Street east of Franklin Field. Access is provided to the proposed parking structure and medical/research district via the existing River Fields road. Four major parking garages are proposed in the east campus area for a potential total of 4,600 parking spaces.

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