Coastal Services Center

Portions of the City of Philadelphia’s industrial waterfront have been abandoned or in decline for three decades. A new park that was created out of a dilapidated pier is demonstrating that providing well-designed public access to the city’s riverfront also spurs economic redevelopment.

“We’re changing how we think about public access and are starting to use it to incentivize and leverage private investment in areas that need redevelopment,” says Joe Forkin, vice president for operations and development for the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation.

The project that is proving that if you build it, economic redevelopment will come is the Race Street Pier.

What was once an abandoned eyesore in an area that had minimal public access to the water has been transformed into an inviting public space where people now stroll, jog, or sit with spectacular river views on three sides.

Not only is the park attracting thousands of visitors a week, but it has also served as a catalyst for economic development in the surrounding neighborhood, where private investors are purchasing and refurbishing buildings for offices, and even a community theatre.

“This could definitely be a model for other coastal managers,” Forkin says. “There are a lot of large cities that have these kinds of old, abandoned industrial sites, particularly up and down the East Coast. Providing public access does leverage interest in an area. It opens the door to good, adaptive reuse.”

Cut Off

For more than 300 years, Philadelphia has been a port city and a major center for international commerce. Over time, railroads, expressways, and massive industrial sites became a barrier preventing local residents from accessing the six miles of waterfront along the Delaware River.

After World War II, the city’s waterfront began to experience manufacturing decline, and many of those industrial sites turned into vacant properties.

“The whole river is still used for commerce and trade, and there are still a number of port facilities,” notes Andy Zemba, director of the Interstate Waters Office in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. “It becomes a balancing act. We’re working to ensure opportunities exist for commerce and ports, while at the same time balancing public access.”

The Delaware River Waterfront Corporation was formed in 2009 as a nonprofit corporation charged with leading partners—including the City of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Coastal Management Program—in efforts to design, develop, and manage the central Delaware River waterfront.

The development of the Race Street Pier is the first part of a multi-phase plan to turn the waterfront into a vibrant area for recreational, cultural, and commercial activities.

Planning Turns to Action

With lots of planning discussions going on, Forkin says, “we needed an early action project. We needed something built to show the constituency the level and quality of design and space we were talking about.”

After looking around for abandoned property in public control that could serve as an example project, Forkin says they settled on the pier, which is just under an acre and is strategically located near a thriving neighborhood in the old city. Besides being right under the Ben Franklin Bridge and offering beautiful views, the pier also had nearby buildings in need of redevelopment.

Pennsylvania’s Coastal Resources Management Program provided a portion of the funding for the pier rehabilitation process and provided input on the project’s design through the permit process, including pre-permit meetings to ensure that coastal impacts would be minimized, Zemba says.

Project partners, who included city, state, and federal staff members, worked for more than two years to finish the $6 million park.

An extensive public participation process also ensured community and stakeholder input, Forkin says. Even before selecting a design firm, the partners held public meetings to discover the kinds of amenities the public wanted. In addition, four large-format public meetings were held before the park was unveiled.

An innovative communication strategy that included Facebook and Twitter was used to establish a user and stakeholder group for the park.

Grand Opening

The Race Street Pier opened to the public on May 12, 2011.

The pier features two levels for riverside recreation. The upper terrace rises 12 feet toward the bridge and is paved with Trex, a sustainable, synthetic decking material made out of reclaimed plastic and wood. The promenade is connected to the lower terrace by a multi-tiered seating area.

The award-winning park sits 540 feet out over the river. It features a picnic-friendly spacious lawn, as well as multiple types of grasses and perennials, and more than three dozen trees that were cultivated in New Jersey and originally destined for the National September 11 Memorial in New York City. More than 200 LED solar light blocks are embedded in the paving, ensuring the park can be used day and night.

During the first summer, more than 60,000 people visited the park.

“It immediately made it into people’s routines,” Forkin says. “There are runners, joggers, picnickers, school trips—it’s made its way into the fabric of the community in a very short period of time.”

Seeing Change

Best of all, Forkin says, just as planners envisioned, private developers are snapping up properties on the park’s fringe for redevelopment. This includes a successful community nonprofit performing arts corporation, which is renovating a 10,000-square-foot building to include a theatre, restaurant, and offices.

“It proves our point,” Forkin says. “When you make this kind of public investment, the private investors will follow.”

“This is a great example of how partnerships are leading toward projects on the ground that are allowing all citizens to enjoy coastal resources,” says Zemba. “We consider this project to be very successful.”

He adds, “It’s a good model. It’s something other coastal managers can look at and give consideration to.”

For more information on the Race Street Pier project, go to www.dep.state.pa.us/river/grants/prevfunded/2010/2010-PD-06.htm. To view the plan for revitalizing the Delaware River waterfront, go to www.plancentraldelaware.com. You may also contact Andy Zemba at (717) 787-1323 or azemba@pa.gov and Joe Forkin at (215) 629-3200 or JForkin@DelawareRiverWaterfrontCorp.com.