Parkside: Celebrating Philadelphia’s Past and Future

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As soon as it gets warm enough for backyard barbecues and water ice pushcarts, the tourists start coming to the Parkside community adjacent to Philadelphia’s sprawling Fairmount Park.

These visitors arrive in droves, descending upon three noted cultural institutions located in Fairmount’s West Park section: the Philadelphia Zoo, the Mann Center for the Performing Arts and the Please Touch Museum. Then, after they’ve enjoyed these institutions, posed for photos and eaten a couple of soft pretzels, they’re gone.

This “in-&-out” movement is about to change.

The Fairmount Park Conservancy, in conjunction with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission (PCPC) and the architecture firm MGA Partners, has a plan to turn the 700-acres of park land between the three institutions into a recreational, residential and commercial district that will revolutionize the Parkside neighborhood – and hopefully the entire city.

The district will be called the Centennial District – a homage to the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, which brought more than 10 million people to the exact same stretch of Fairmount Park to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

More than 200 buildings were commissioned for the Centennial Exhibition, including one each for state. Only two remain today: the Ohio House, which is now a café, and Memorial Hall, which was originally built to house the Centennial’s art exhibits and since 2008 has been home to the Please Touch Museum for children.

While the idea for a Centennial District had been floating around for more than a decade, the plan didn’t really take root until the Please Touch Museum began its $85-million renovation of Memorial Hall in 2005.

The Fairmount Park Conservancy, with assistance from the William Penn Foundation and the Lenfest Foundation, funded the creation of the Centennial District Master Plan, which outlines the changes that will occur in this stretch of Fairmount Park over the next 20 years. The plan calls for a wide range of items including streetscape improvements along Parkside Avenue, renovation of the Park’s Concourse Lake, creation of an organized set of play fields in front of Memorial Hall and establishment of a new transit line that will connect the area to Center City. These planned improvements will cost an estimated $300 million of public and private investment.

“The Centennial District will be like the front porch of Fairmount Park,” Andrew Meloney, West Philadelphia planner for the PCPC, said. “We want to open up the park and make it even more engaging and accessible to people who visit.”

“The plan was devised as a means to turn the area into a family destination,” Kate Wilhelm, executive director of the Fairmount Park Conservancy said. “People can come here and go to the zoo, then head to the Please Touch Museum, then catch a show at the Mann Center, and experience the park along the way.”

So far, the plan is moving along nicely. A 5k recreational loop of trails and pedestrian bridges is almost complete, and the effort to clean and renovate Lake Concourse has begun. In addition, the PCPC has been meeting with the Philadelphia Department of Commerce and Centennial District stakeholders to discuss how the local economy can be revitalized.

“We’re trying to inject some commercial life into the area,” Meloney said. “We’ve looked into development at the intersections of 52nd and Parkside and 40th and Girard in particular – both residential and retail.”

Parkside resident Christine Good, 47, thinks the Centennial District will bring welcome change to the neighborhood.

“We could really use some stores and stuff over here, because we’ve never had that before,” she said. “I’d love to see a little shopping mall – now that would be historic.”

She said that the addition of the Please Touch Museum has brought more traffic, business and bus stops to the area. But, she added, ticket prices at the museum are so expensive ($15 for kids and adults) that many of the neighborhood residents can’t afford to take their children there. As a result, the museum has become more a resource for non-residents than it is for those living in the Parkside community.

Wilhelm wants to make sure that the Centennial District is accessible not just for visitors but also for the people who live in the surrounding neighborhoods.

“We want this to be a park for everyone,” she said.

Wilhelm also said that the community has been actively involved in the planning of the Centennial District from the beginning.

“You can’t create improvements in a neighborhood without sitting down and talking to its leaders,” she said. “We’ve held a series of public meetings and worked closely with the Business Association of West Philadelphia and the East Parkside Revitalization Corporation to make sure that the people in the neighborhood have a voice in the plan.”

By the time the plan is completed, there will be a Little League field next to the Negro League Memorial Park, community gardens, a dog park, a ferris wheel, a fountain park, additional  parking and more dining options. There will also be a strong emphasis placed on the area’s history – particularly the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. The plan has a scheduled end date of 2026, which will coincide with the 250th anniversary founding of the United States of America. The hope is that Philadelphia will be able to host some kind of national celebration in the new Centennial District.

“Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods, a city rich with history and a city with an expansive park system,” Wilhelm said. “The Centennial District brings all three of these together.”

A Parkside Renaissance

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In its 134-years of existence, the Parkside section of Philadelphia has experienced grandure and gross neglect from the 1876 the Centennial Exhibition that attracted 10-million from around the world to a neighorhood currently struggling with dwindling population.

All but two of the hundreds of buildings erected for theExhibition have disappeared. And for years, it appeared that the mansions they once occupied Parkside would eventually vanish as well.

But with more than 25 years’ worth of renovations already under its belt and plans underway for the Centennial District to debut in time for the country’s 250^th anniversary in 2026, Parkside is far from a dying neighborhood. Yet in recent years, Parkside has struggled to rebuild its image. Through new developments and decades old revitalizations, Parkside is blooming with revival.

Parkside’s struggles began soon after the Centennial celebrations ended, leaving the neighborhood all but abandoned. While better transportation contributed to the growth of the neighborhood again at the turn of the 20^th century, a period of “white flight” during the 1950s and 1960s contributed to the decline.

Parkside gained a negative perception in the 1970s and 1980s — deserved or not — due to crime and other maladies like underperforming public elementary schools.

Robert P. Thomas, a partner at Campbell Thomas & Co. architecture firm, remembers the shape Parkside was in when he first came to the neighborhood in the 1980s.

“You would have trouble just walking down here,” Thomas said. “ It was terrifying [for some people].”

Thomas and his firm specializing in preservationa and conservation have since renovated numerous properties in the neighborhood, including the Park West Apartments along the 4200 block of Parkside Avenue.

Among the architecture firm’s goals is to make new properties that are sustainable, accessible to the disabled, have low-income tax credits and are true to the original design of the buildings.

“We want to see our buildings used for good purposes,” Thomas said.

One Parkside resident who recognized the potential for the neighorhood is James L. Brown, the man given credit  for much of Parkside’s revitalization.

Since 1963, Brown and his wife, Charlotte have purchased and renovated numerous properties in the neighborhood. His children, J. LeRoy and Nancy, are also heavily involved in the family business. They serve as President and Executive Board Member respectively of the Parkside Historic Preservation Corporation formed by Brown in 1983.

Shortly after the founding of PHPC Twenty years later in 1983, Brown nominated the neighborhood for a National Register Historic District. The dream came to fruition later that year. Being on the National Register opened the doors for future renovation projects.

Among the most notable renovations is the Lansdowne Apartments at 4100-02 Parkside Avenue. Sold to Brown in 1968, it was his first major project, valued at $500,000. The 19-unit apartment building currently has a certified market value of $273,600.

Through an auction, Brown later bought the Brentwood Apartments in November 1993. The six-building, stretching from 4130 to 4140 Parkside Avenue, were originally upscale townhomes designed by H.E Flower. Although it was Brown’s most expensive restoration, at $8 million, the apartment complex is currently valued at $729,000.

Forest Huffman, a professor of finance and real estate at Temple University, said many factors contribute to the viability of a neighborhood.

“In general, value has a lot to do with location,” he said. ”It also needs to be accessible and have [easy modes of] transportation.”

The 2000 Census recored more than 21,000 houses existing in the 19131 ZIP code, which encompasses West Parkside and nearby communities. A majority of the homes were built before 1969, with more than 37 percent of the homes built in or before 1939. As of 2000, 47 percent of its properties were valued below $50,000.

East Parkside, part of the 19104 ZIP code, has similar characteristics with nearly 70 percent of its properties valued lower than $50,000.

Looking ahead to Parkside’s future, Prof Huffman expects a slow and steady recovery, noting that this is normal for any area. Money is usually one of the main determining factors for the pace of recovery.

“ It [revitalization] costs a lot of money unless you have federal grants, but it doesn’t happen much anymore,” he said.

However, Huffman also said that other aspects of the neighborhood have to be developed, including businesses, schools and transportation. The incomes of the residents also have to increase, which would allow homeowners to keep and maintain their residences.

The opening of the Park West Town Center in the West Parkside neighborhood was a step in the right direction. Neighborhood developervThomas said that residents needed the shopping center and its services.

However,  Thomas noted that East Parkside residents don’t have the same amenities.

“It’s helpful that it [the Park West Town Center] is there, but East Parkside area needs it, too,” he said.

However, with limited funding from both investors and the City coupled with a lack of new residents, Prof Huffman predicts the process might take a little longer than expected.

“People lead to more development and development is driven by [an influx] of people,” he said.” It’s like the chicken and the egg.”

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