February 12–19, 1998

city beat

"What we don't want is more traffic, or the area to become a parking lot for Penn's Landing," says Larry Becker Gallery co-owner Heidi Nivling.

Gallery Row

Will increased traffic and parking needs near Penn's Landing mean the end of Old City First Friday celebrations?

by Mark Naymik

Just after 5 p.m. on the First Friday of each month large crowds of well-heeled art buyers, artists, college students and suburbanites walk the streets of Old City, going door-to-door to the clean, well-lighted galleries that participate in the area's popular arts community open house.

But some business operators in the area worry that the proposed Penn's Landing development—a combination retail and entertainment complex—will hurt the first Friday celebration and restaurant businesses in the area. They fear the waterfront development will attract more cars, not people, to their neighborhood.

"What we don't want is more traffic, or the area to become a parking lot for Penn's Landing," says Heidi Nivling, who, with her husband Larry Becker, manages the Larry Becker Gallery on Second Street. "The area needs to stay walkable. Gridlock at the corner of Second and Market Street already happens on weekends. More traffic could discourage walkers from the area."

Nivling and Becker were among the hundreds of Old City residents and business owners who attended a recent meeting at Christ Church to hear developers and consultants discuss the project.

At the meeting Richard Orth, a principal with the traffic consulting firm of Orth-Rodgers Associates, told the audience that the Old City neighborhood would experience an increase in traffic, but the traffic could be accommodated by changing the timing patterns of traffic lights in the area.

A traffic study, Orth said, showed that the heaviest traffic flow would occur on streets near Penn's Landing between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Fridays, when cars heading to Penn's Landing would combine with cars heading out of the city. He said the traffic would pick up again on Fridays between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. when visitors to Penn's Landing go home.

Rick Snyderman, owner of the Snyderman Gallery located near Third and Cherry Streets, also attended the recent neighborhood meeting. He says he worries the city might eventually eliminate on-street parking along Second Street to improve the flow of traffic through Old City. He says such a move would hurt not only the galleries, but the restaurants in the area, which would lose customers unable to find parking.

"My concern is that Old City is not defined by First Fridays," says Snyderman. "I do not want to lose or remove parking from Second Street. I'd like to see a guarantee from the city that it won't remove parking from Second Street. That is my concern."

Similarly, Becky Kerlin, owner of Gallery Joe at Third and Arch Streets and president of the Old City Arts Association, says the neighborhood cannot afford to lose more parking. "We need more; they shouldn't take what we have," says Kerlin.

"[The traffic study] did not recommend eliminating parking on Second Street," say Jim Cuorato, executive vice president of Penn's Landing Corp., the quasi-public agency overseeing the waterfront development. "Where there may be an increase in parking is on the Market Street bridge [westbound], and some traffic will flow through Old City. But it shouldn't have a negative effect on First Friday and Old City."

Cuorato also says visitors to Penn's Landing will not need to park in Old City because his organization is planning for the influx of cars now. Cuorato says that within the next several weeks Penn's Landing Corp. will take control of the city's car-impoundment lot located at Pier 27 North, just south of Spring Garden. He says Penn's Landing Corp. owns the property and has leased it to the city.

"We have tried to get them off the site for years, long before the Simon DeBartolo project," Cuorato says. The lot, he says, will have room for 400 cars, and will be available this summer.

"We are trying to create as much parking as possible East of Delaware Avenue," says Councilman Frank DiCicco, who represents residents in Old City.

The city will relocate the impoundment lot to a site near Delaware and Oregon Avenues. A spokeswoman with the city's Parking Authority confirmed the upcoming move, but failed to respond before deadline with any details.

Penn's Landing Corp., says Cuorato, also will begin managing the parking lot near the South Street pedestrian bridge. The lot is currently managed by the Interstate Land Management Corporation, another quasi-public agency that manages property along Interstate 95.

Cuorato says Penn's Landing Corp. will keep the lot open in conjunction with events at Penn's Landing, and improve advertising around the lot to encourage people to park in it. Shuttle buses will transport people from these lots to Penn's Landing, eliminating the need to have people park in Old City, he says.

"People coming from outside the city don't know enough to park outside the area and then come into the area," says Nivling. "People are still going to drive down to Old City and look for a parking place."

The city and Simon DeBartolo entered into a tentative agreement last May to develop the waterfront. The proposed project includes 500,000-square-foot indoor retail and entertainment space and a 2,300-car parking garage, which, Cuorato says, may be expanded to 2,500 spaces.

Cuorato says the final agreement between the city and developer will be signed this June, and that Penn's Landing Corp. will be announcing the first major tenants in the next two months.