The City of Philadelphia was seeking to grow its industrial and technology base to increase employment in key sectors of the City economy. Given its size and physical attributes, the 3,000-acre area along both banks of the Lower Schuylkill River, which includes many large, vacant, and privately-owned industrial sites and oil refineries, was considered to have significant potential for economic development. The area is strategically located between the fast-growing University City neighborhood to the north, and I-95 and the Philadelphia International Airport, which provide regional and international access. While these attributes were well-suited for modern industrial use, the area’s long history as a heavy industrial zone meant that issues like environmental contamination and decades of infrastructure neglect would make private development here very difficult without significant government intervention.
Working with a consultant team to create an industrial master plan, RESGroup completed the real estate market, business, and labor analysis to understand the amount and types of industrial development that could occur over the next 15 years. Significant nearby demand drivers, including the Universities, the Navy Yard, proximity to I-95, the Philadelphia Airport expansion, and the area’s recent designation as a USDOE Energy Innovation HUB, were noted and action steps to increase potential demand were identified. Among the action steps recommended were creating large, shovel-ready development sites, consolidation/ coordination of multiple land owners, preservation of strategic sites for users requiring specific site attributes (such as rail access), improving area access, and creation of a set package of financial incentives that can be deployed quickly for the right opportunities.
