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Real Estate Development

    Urban Renewal in West Philadelphia

    Following World War II, urban renewal provided the resources for city officials and developers to create dramatic changes to the physical and social landscape of West Philadelphia.

    Vue32

    Vue32, a 16-story mixed-use apartment tower, stands on a high ridge on the eastern boundary of Drexel University’s campus, overlooking the Amtrak – SEPTA railyards and affording dramatic views of Center City. 

    Amtrak-SEPTA Rail Yards

    View east from a ridge on Drexel University’s boundary that overlooks the Amtrak–SEPTA rail yards, the long-term, projected site of an over-build for development of University City’s Drexel-centric Innovation Neighborhood.

    A mosaic displaying a bulldozer approaching a row of houses filled with African American residents.
    Collateral Damage in Unit 3

    The University of Pennsylvania’s role in the creation of the University City Science Center in RDA Unit 3, a working-poor, majority-African American neighborhood known locally as the “Black Bottom,” severely damaged its community relations for decades to come.

    Federal- and State-Funded Urban Renewal at the University of Pennsylvania

    In the 1960s, the University expanded west and north in Redevelopment Authority Unit 4, drawing upon both federal and state urban renewal building funds.

    A postcard advertising rowhouses for sale in 1914, just two years before Philadelphia experienced a severe housing crisis.
    Homes for Sale in 1914

    A postcard advertising rowhouses for sale in 1914, just two years before Philadelphia experienced a severe housing crisis.

    A postcard advertising rowhouses for sale in 1914, just two years before Philadelphia experienced a severe housing crisis.
    The Post-World War I Housing Crisis and Interracial Tensions

    A housing crisis, combined with White resistance to Black settlement, created high rents and overcrowding for migrants in the first wave of the Great Migration.