Theater and Grocery

RETAIL

According to President Rodin, Penn adopted three urban design principles to develop retail: 

1. “First, we would use university resources (funds and staff) as a catalyst by providing two major retail anchors, aiming to attract private investment. 

2. Second, we would design the retail to complement and reinforce (not overwhelm) its physical location. 

3. Third, we would integrate public space with retail in order to enliven the street and provide opportunities for the different constituencies to mingle”(Rodin, 2005)

The 40th street project, including the movie theater and the grocery, is one of the anchors reflecting Penn’s ideas on retail development in the neighborhood. Today’s Cinemark and Panera Bread opened in 2013 and 2019, respectively. The current Cinemark building replaced the original Burger King in 2000. In the past twenty years, we have seen the shift from to Sundance Cinemas (1998), to the Bridge Cinema de Lux (2002), to Rave University 6 Theatre (2010), to the Cinemark University City Penn 6 (2013). Similarly, the restaurant was initially run by Marathon Grill (2004), followed by Harvest Seasonal Grill (2012), and Panera Bread (2019).

Another part of the 40th street project is the grocery, built to replace a surface parking lot in 1999, at the northwest corner of 40th Street and Walnut Street. At the end of the 1990s, Penn planned a national chain, but there were no takers due to the risks perceived to be associated with the University City neighborhood. The FreshGrocer, a local purveyor, ran the project from 2011. In 2016, Penn claimed that the grocery did not renew the lease timely and terminated the lease. FreshGrocer closed in 2020 after losing a nearly four-year-legal battle with Penn. Acme will be the new host of the grocery soon.

Penn’s 40th Street Project--including the Rotunda, cinema, and grocery--redeveloped a commercial corridor by partnering with private developers. Through these targeted investments, the university aimed to spur other private developers to build on its example.

Figure 11. Left: the parking lot before (grocery). Right: the Burger King building before (theater) © James R. Mann

Source:

Kromer, J., & Kerman, L. (2005). West Philadelphia initiatives: A case study in urban revitalization: University of Pennsylvania, Fels Institute of Government.

Rodin, J. (2005). The 21st century urban university: New roles for practice and research. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(3), 237-249. 

https://www.inquirer.com/business/fresh-grocer-closing-university-city-penn-walnut-street-20200217.html