THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTER CITY DISTRICT AND CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
WINTER 2024
CENTER CITY DIGEST
Open Streets, Third Spaces, and Cultivating Communities When I first moved to Philadelphia nearly 20 years ago, I happened to be training for the New York Marathon. Many of my first impressions of the city were forged between my Center City apartment and the banks of the Schuylkill River, where I became enamored by the experience of what felt like running through a Thomas Eakins painting. Since then, I have loved running down the middle of West River Drive – now MLK Drive – which is closed to vehicular traffic seasonally on weekends. I’d often wonder if other streets in Philadelphia could have similarly flexible uses. Unfortunately, it took a public health emergency to test this notion. The COVID-19 pandemic forced American cities to quickly reimagine their streets. As restaurants struggled to survive, cities from Portland to Pittsburgh rushed to convert parking spaces to outdoor dining areas. In Philadelphia, several streets in Center City transformed into outdoor dining rooms. I’ll never forget how moving it was for my family to enjoy a meal among dozens of similarly delighted strangers in the middle of the 13th Street roadway after months of eating at home in isolation. These emergency measures not only helped restaurants survive the economic devastation of restricted capacity but also inspired many Philadelphians to embrace al fresco dining even after restrictions eased. Center City’s streeteries have all but disappeared, for better or for worse, but there are still more outdoor dining seats in Center City (3,779) than there were in 2019 (3,501). Perhaps more so than our restaurant industry, downtown retail has undergone creative destruction over the past five years. While many downtowns have lost legacy retailers such as Gap, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor, successful shopping districts like Rittenhouse Row have evolved to attract a new generation of digitally native brands such as Warby Parker, M.M.LaFleur, Brooklinen, Glossier, and Vuori, all of which appeal to a growing population of young professionals with disposable income who live within walking distance. For the last two years, Philadelphia has been named the Most Walkable City in the U.S., arguably because of places like Rittenhouse Row, where the physical form of the street is as important to the area’s success as the tenant mix. Rittenhouse Row has desirable smaller storefronts (1,0003,000 square feet) which create an engaging cadence of storefronts under a tree canopy, maintain visual interest, and encourage exploration. Looking to lean into Center City’s inherent walkability while supporting retailers, our team launched a program to pedestrianize parts of Rittenhouse Row during four Sundays in September and two in December. Dubbing the program “Open Streets: West Walnut,” we temporarily
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