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On July 28, 2022 CPDC hosted an in-person meeting on retail recovery with guest panelists Paige Jaffe, Managing Director, JLL, Jim Pearlstein, President, Peal Properties, John Usdan, CEO, Midwood Investment and Development and Jacob Cooper, Partner and Managing Director, MSC.
This edition of the CCD and CPDC quarterly newsletter includes: CCD President, Paul R. Levy's cover essay about the current status of recovery in Center City and what’s required from local leaders, a new promotion in CCD’s leadership team, streetscape improvements, the return of seasonal amenities to CCD Parks and the latest initiatives supported by CCDF.
The CCD's quarterly newsletter. In this issue- People who work, live, shop or dine in Center City are quite optimistic about downtown’s future. That’s apparent in the CCD’s annual customer satisfaction survey. But, there are caution flags.
A new CCD/CPDC report, Center City Pedestrian Counts, November 2022, documents that pedestrian volumes in October 2022 in the commercial core reached 77% of the October 2019 level, showing steady growth throughout 2022. The rate of increase has been greatest in the commercial office district and the successful return of major conventions is clearly visible in the volume recorded by CCD sensors at 12th and Market Street.
The total number of workers, residents and visitors in Center City continued to rise in October 2023 to 82% of October 2019 levels, with the largest increases among workers and residents. Overall, the upward trend in pedestrian volumes for the last three and a half years is showing no signs of having reached any plateau.
Citywide employment has fully rebounded from the spring 2020 shutdown with 2.4% more jobs in October 2023 than in February 2020. But there is a difference between the return of workers to payrolls and the return of full vitality to Center City. The report suggests ways to accelerate the job growth and business formation rates in Philadelphia.
Recovery in Center City is gaining momentum. Workers are returning to offices; transit ridership and hotel occupancy are rebounding; arts and cultural institutions are welcoming audiences. The State of Center City 2022 tracks trends by industry.
For the last two decades, Greater Center City has been the fastest growing residential section of both Philadelphia and the entire region. After a temporary dip in population, the number of downtown residents on sidewalks in Center City had rebounded to 2019 levels by the end of 2021. Rents and home sale prices held up and the number of newly-permitted residential units in both Center City and citywide reached the highest point in decades in 2021.