Changing Skyline: Children's Hospital garage megaproject brushes off neighbors

Aided by an army of lawyers, consultants, and architects, Children's Hospital seems well on its way to winning approval for a huge, auto-centric office park in the middle of a thriving rowhouse neighborhood on the Schuylkill. All it needs is an endorsement on Tuesday from the Planning Commission; then it's off to the Zoning Board for a routine variance.

So, that's that, folks. On to the next megaproject.

After years of effort by the Nutter administration to forge a more balanced approach to planning and zoning, the likely approval of the Children's high-rise campus in its current form is a disheartening reminder of how little progress actually has been made since the any-development-is-good-development days of Mayors Rendell and Street.

The proposed campus next to the South Street Bridge, where Children's plans to conduct computer-based research, is among the largest projects that Nutter's team has evaluated in the past two years, equal in square footage to both Comcast towers. And yet city planners stood passively by while the institutional Goliath ran circles around the David-sized neighborhood groups trying to shape it into a more urban development.

The design - a joint effort by Pelli Clarke Pelli and Philadelphia's Ballinger - is little changed from the original shown to residents two years ago. Four glassy office towers, up to 375 feet high, would ultimately be built on top of a long, three-story garage, forming a solid wall beside the blossoming Schuylkill Banks park. To provide access to this monstrous structure, Children's wants to cut two driveways into the South Street Bridge. While less central than Comcast's campus, the site is served by bus, shuttles, and the University City Regional Rail stop.

The impact of the design is sure to reverberate beyond the Graduate Hospital neighborhood. Thousands of pedestrians and bicyclists cross the bridge daily on their way to jobs in West Philadelphia's expanding hospital-and-university district. The driveways will turn their commute into a game of chicken. You can also bet that the Children's garage will set a precedent for all future waterfront projects.

As a city, we talk about upholding traditional urban planning values. We want buildings that fit into William Penn's perfectly sized street grid, and have human activity on the ground floor to make us feel welcome and safe. While the complex may end up with a bit of retail tucked in a corner, the design calls for a blank garage wall at street level along most of Schuylkill Avenue, shielded by a heavily planted berm. The park that Children's calls "Bainbridge Place" is a glorified driveway.

In the phrase adopted by the design's opponents, which include the Design Advocacy Group, South Street West Business Association and South of South Street Neighborhood Association, there will be no human "interface" along the street.

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Changing Skyline: Children's Hospital garage megaproject brushes off neighbors