Penn announces plan for green space along Schuylkill

The University of Pennsylvania is building Penn Park, a $40 million green space on what used to be U.S. Postal Service parking lots. It’s the centerpiece of its Penn Connects fundraising campaign.

The University of Pennsylvania is building Penn Park, a $40 million green space on what used to be U.S. Postal Service parking lots. It’s the centerpiece of its Penn Connects fundraising campaign. WHYY’s Denis Devine has the story.

Script:
Penn had paved parking lots, but its putting up what it hopes will be a paradise for students and the community. Vice President Anne Papageorge says the project will link Penn’s campus to the Schuylkill River and beyond.

Papageorge: “There is an experience in Center City, and then there is this big void, and then you come to Penn. And what we’re really trying to do is create a seamless transition from Center City to Penn, to University City.”

In the next two years, Papageorge says sports fields, tennis courts and pedestrian walkways will replace 14 acres of asphalt. In the winter, some fields will be covered by a plastic bubble, and drainage basins will let sprinklers reuse what rain falls on the property. Demolition and grading should begin by May.

Listen:
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