Quote:
Originally Posted by City Wide
The northern side of Walnut between 39th and 40th is almost all retail and much of it controlled by Penn. I certainly don't understand why Penn wouldn't/couldn't/won't accept a design that includes retail on the ground floor, but it can't be because they don't embrace retail. Penn rarely turns down a opportunity to make a buck.
In the main campus area, from Walnut to Spruce, from 32th out to 40th, I can't think of many or any retail stores, other then what's in Houston Hall. Maybe they have a policy against that practice, or some agreement with the City back from the days when the neighborhood was sold out for the super block development. But Penn only holds to agreements as long as the agreement benefits them, as soon as it doesn't, the agreement is toast.
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Again, I think it's a question of core undergraduate academic and residential buildings versus other--e.g., business office--uses and "off-campus" private housing, e.g., the Radian. With the exception of Stouffer College House--a creature of the early '70s--Penn has never placed street-level retail in a core undergraduate academic or residential building. It just hasn't up til now, and I suspect it won't in the future. Penn does NOT want it's core undergraduate academic and residential buildings to simply melt into the urban landscape.