Two major proposed projects are expected to make Philadelphia’s waterfront one of the best places in the city. A town home development is being planned by Penn Treaty Park in Northern Liberties. Developers are also planning an elevated park over I-95 that would connect Walnut and Chestnut streets.
A $225 million plan to build a park near Penns Landing and on top of Interstate 95 that Mayor Jim Kenney announced at his 2018 budget address is already near its necessary funding.
PennDOT will contribute $100 million to the park, a spokesman for the state transportation agency confirmed to NBC10 shortly after Kenney's speech Thursday morning.
That funding pushes the park's secured funding to $205 million after the William Penn Foundation also announced Thursday that it would give $15 million to the project. Kenney told PlanPhilly earlier in the week that the city would pay $90 million.
No timeline for the 11-acre park's completion was given. It would "cap" I-95 between Chestnut and Walnut streets.
"For decades, I-95 has been a barrier to economic development and recreational activity at Penn’s Landing and the surrounding neighborhoods," Kenney said in his address at Council chambers inside City Hall. "By finally funding a cap to link Philadelphia’s valuable waterfront with the city’s core, this project is expected to have a return of $1.6 billion in economic benefit over the next 25 years."
Shawn McCaney, William Penn's executive director, said the new park will be "the centerpiece of a longterm effort to bring people and new economic activity to the river's edge."
"This project will not only transform the waterfront but it will transform our entire city by allowing residents and visitors to reclaim the Delaware riverfront as a new public space destination," McCaney said.
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