I agree.
How else can you describe a small, dense, city-within-a-city that has seen local jobs climb from 50,000 to 72,000 in just over 10 years? That's an overall increase of 44% (since 2001), and half the time was also during one of the worst recessions the US has ever seen.
Pretty impressive.
Here is a great quote from Matt Bergheiser, Executive Director of the UCD:
"It’s the land of opportunity here. Our general theme is onward and upward. It seems like every year we build on the amazing things that happened the year before. We broke some barriers and some of it is measured by data. We broke the 72,000 jobs barrier, we broke 43,000 student mark and we have more 6.5 million square feet in development either planned in a real way or under construction and a wave of residential development coming.
"Almost 2,000 new housing units are coming. That’s about 4,000 to 5,000 additional people or about a 10 percent increase in population by 2015. We continue to be a place where the concentration of economic activity is unmatched in all but a handful of places around the country. It’s important and critical for the city and region. When you get a lot brain power in a concentrated space, good things happen."
Multiple posts have been written during my blogging career about how impressed I am with UCity's growth, as well as their planning, decision making, and organization.
Here are some past PhillyUrbanLiving.com articles for further info consumption (in case you are either new to this blog, or just want a refresher), starting with the most recent:
- University City ... meet "Drexification"
- More residential growth for University City
- What recession?
- More rental high-rises for University City
- University City is still thriving
- An "oasis" at Penn
Talk about a UCity overload, but I always find that it's helpful to take one current, worthwhile article, and link it to past blog posts that I've done to bring the point home. It just makes for easier reading.
If you have not been to University City recently, since college, or since the 90s, now is as good a time as ever to drive down, walk around, and have a nice dinner while you're there.
