Transforming Brownfield Sites in the Lower Schuylkill

The Philadelphia2035 Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2011, and PIDC’s 2012 Lower Schuylkill Master Plan identified the area below Center City and along both sides of the tidal Schuylkill River as the “Lower Schuylkill” industrial area comprising both significant challenges and opportunities.

The area’s challenges stemmed from the historic location of heavy industry known to have contaminated air, soil, and water. The opportunities lay in its strategic proximity and highway accessibility to the growing Metropolitan Center (Center City + University City), Philadelphia International Airport, Navy Yard redevelopment, and Port of Philadelphia.

Twelve years later, as industrial operations have ceased and their sites been acquired by new owners, exciting reuse transformations hinted at in plans are being realized. Understanding the nature of the sites’ brownfield conditions and determining feasible remediation measures consistent with proposed new uses have been essential. The tour’s site visits, accompanied by owners’ and consultants’ perspectives, prepare participants to work with public, private, and institutional owners in their own communities to identify and reuse brownfields.

Presenters’ agencies and firms are working with low-income, minority communities that border the sites and sharing information about environmental conditions and clean-up plans. Presenters describe other collaborative efforts on planning, workforce development, housing, hiring, education, and infrastructure initiatives.