News

Paseo Verde, the new mixed-use project at Temple University transit station, is attracting more national attention, as noted recently in the Hidden City Philadelphia article in which the author compares it to New York's Via Verde ... "in fact, Paseo Verde has a leg up on Via Verde. Unlike the latter, it is transit oriented. Where Via Verde is a good ten-minute walk to the nearest subway stop, Paseo Verde is right on top of the Regional Rail core network. Healthy transportation is as important as healthy living–and one of Via Verde’s few immediate drawbacks is its distance from rail transit," says author Stephen Stofka (see article link below).

The Paseo Verde project is TOD with a mixed-use program centered on Affordable and Market-Rate Workforce Housing with supporting retail, office, community services and parking. Developed on a 1.9 acre brownfield site adjacent to a SEPTA Regional Rail corridor and its Temple University Station, it will link residents, workers and students to the busiest transit station outside of Center City. The project will cap the decade-long planning efforts of Associación de Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM), the ambitious CDC that has revitalized the surrounding neighborhood, to re-integrate the community to neighboring Temple University and to the city itself. Despite a stringent budget, the project is nevertheless designed to attain the highest levels of LEED for Homes and LEED for Neighborhood Development certification, and aims to serve as a model for sustainable re-development in inner city neighborhoods. The urban design strategy is focused on weaving the two neighborhoods together and establishing a pedestrian-rich environment that leverages the enormous untapped capacity of the adjoining transit station.