Existing conditions on Race Street just east of 2nd Street

As we mentioned last week, the Race Street Pier park project is moving along and on schedule. While the park will be an amazing addition to the Delaware River waterfront, making sure people can get to the park easily is a top concern. James Corner Field Operations, the designers of the new park, are also designing improvements to Race Street between 2^nd Street and the river. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is the project manager for the connector project and Field Operations has just submitted their schematic design for both phase one of the project and a full build-out scenario. Read the rest of this entry »

While the construction of the new park at Pier 53 continues, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, along with DRWC and other sponsors, is hosting a special screening of Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time. The screening will take place at Jefferson Square Park and 4th and Washington Ave on Thursday, August 26 at 8pm. This event is FREE and open to everyone; popcorn will be provided so just bring a blanket. If you are already familiar with Andy Goldsworthy’s work, here is your chance to learn more about his sculpture process and if you have not yet seen his work, you don’t want to miss this chance to learn more!

Just one of many gorgeous views park visitors will have of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge

Construction and bid documents have been finalized for the Race Street Pier and the bid process began today. We hosted a bid meeting for prospective contractors and many well-qualified contractors attended. The deadline for bid submissions is 9/1/10 and we will award the bid soon after. Construction is set to begin this fall so it’s an exciting time for the Race Street Pier park and the entire waterfront. Details about the bid process can be found here.

Here are a few photographs taken earlier today. Pier substructure work continues as the pier is prepared for topside construction.

A view from Race Street Pier looking west with Center City visible in the background.

One of the two wharf drops that will be incorporated into the park. Not visible is the diver underneath the pier doing substructure work.

In July, Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, in conjunction with the Central Delaware Advocacy Group, held the second round of Civic Cluster meetings. These meetings, open to all who wished to attend, were targeted toward residents of neighborhoods adjacent to the master planning project area.

Through the course of two meetings, one in the southern half of the waterfront and one in the northern half, residents of neighborhoods adjacent to the master plan project area gave valuable feedback on approaches to pedestrian connectivity, open space and the desired type and scale of new development on the waterfront.

This input was collected through a series of interactive activities in which targeted questions were asked and participants, in groups of 4-7, wrote and illustrated their responses on large maps of the project area. The content of those maps has been condensed and synthesized by master plan consultant Hurley-Franks and Associates and the final draft of those results are now available here (Under Minutes and Presentations).