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Sidewalk cafés have increased by 439% since the Center City District (CCD) began surveys in 2001 and now number 372 with 5,579 seats at restaurants, cafés, bakeries, and ice cream parlors between Vine and South Streets, river to river, according to a new report from the Center City District/Central Philadelphia Development Corporation.
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.
Since the Center City District (CCD) began gathering data in 2001 on downtown establishments that provided outdoor seating, the number of seats has steadily increased. That trend has continued in 2019, with locations throughout Center City providing a record number of 6,969 seats, a 5% increase from 6,631 in 2018.
In 2018, 2,810 new housing units were completed in Greater Center City – the largest number since Center City District began tracking the market almost 20 years ago. Strong growth is continuing at the beginning of 2019 with 3,017 more housing units under construction in Greater Center City.
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.
Center City continued its steady process of recovery in June and during the first three weeks of July with pedestrian volumes reaching 92% of 2019 levels. The robust recovery of residents and visitors has led the way, while the number of workers in June approached 100,000, attaining 76% of June 2019 levels.
This report by CCD, CPDC examines disparities between the number of Black-owned and white-owned businesses in Philadelphia and compares them to four other East Coast cities
The steady, incremental lifting of pandemic-related restrictions has enabled retail, restaurant and service businesses gradually to reopen, drawing an increasing number of pedestrians back to Center City’s sidewalks and helping to restore thousands of jobs. This new report from CCD/CPDC tracks the rebound over the last three months.