About Philadelphia's Temple University

This article from today's Philadelphia Inquirer gives a nice overview of the world of student housing around Temple University - a must read for investors in this area:

New Temple student housing stirs a renaissance west of Broad Street

New York-based developer Jonathan Rose Companies is joining with local non-profit Asociacíon Puertorriqueños en Marcha to develop a 200,000 square foot mixed-use development near the Temple University transit center at 10th & Berks in North Philadelphia. According to this Philadelphia Business Journal article the development will consist of 164 mixed-income apartments, as well as parking, retail space, and a community technology center. The published cost of the project is $48 million, about 1% of which is federal funding with the rest being funded by Jonathan Rose Cos.

Jonathan Rose Cos. has a long track record of successful transit-oriented development (TOD) in urban centers, but this will be their first foray into the Philadelphia market. If executed successfully it could go a long way towards bridging the gap between Temple University's beautiful campus and the heavily blighted neighborhood to its east. For years the railroad tracks running through the Temple University transit center have served as a physical boundary to the University's expansion eastward. While those tracks will always be a line of demarcation for the campus, a mixed-use development like this one, located right at the transit center, could help blur the line between campus and the neighborhood, which I think is a great thing for everyone.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our cleanup event on Saturday and to anyone who participated in other cleanups around the city. It was a lot of fun getting out on a sunny Saturday morning with friends and neighbors and working together to make our corner of Philadelphia a little bit nicer to look at. I don't know how much trash we cleaned up in terms of weight or volume but I can say that I was a bit sore from all the work the next day, so that's a good sign. Not only is this annual event a great way to make Philly look a little better, but it's a great reminder of just how great Philadelphians are! I met a number of new friends during the cleanup and their passion for keeping their city looking fresh was very refreshing.

To read more about this year's cleanup check out the Inquirer article here, and as the slogan for this years event reminds us: Keep Up the Sweep Up!

Mayor Nutter & Tony Danza were part of the Kick-off for Philly Spring Clean-up 2010 at St. Joe's Prep.