An Eyesore to the Community
Why the Construction of New College House West Could Serve as A Greater Detriment Than Asset to the West Philadelphia Community
by Henry Munk
Last November, University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann announced that the Board of Trustees approved the construction of New College House West, a 250,000 square foot complex housing 450 students, four faculty apartments, a coffee bar, and multipurpose room. Under the auspices of allowing more students to utilize university housing while renovating existing structures, the $163 million project will begin construction this summer and won’t be completed until 2021. In announcing this plan, President Gutmann believes that this construction project is “a signature moment to improve student life at Penn.”
Maybe this is true. However, in my opinion, the university’s decision to announce what feels like another massive construction project without articulated buy-in from community leaders, West Philadelphia residents, local business owners or the student body raises so many concerns that I feel this is merely another chapter in the university’s ongoing saga of exploiting West Philadelphia residents. In short, Penn’s gentrification of the area – Penntrification, if you will – has created more harm than good to those living in the community and not affiliated with the institution.
So how did we get here? Starting in the 1960s, the university began claiming real estate in what was then known as Black Bottom, a primarily black and disadvantages residential neighborhood located between 32ndand 40thstreet between Lancaster Ave and University Ave. By either buying houses or claiming eminent domain in the area, the university was able to evict longtime residents, condemn the properties as untenable and spark what they deemed “urban renewal”. Various sources put the number of displaced residents as anywhere between 5,000 and 15,000 people. These feelings of displacement and mis-trust are still felt by those who used to live in the area, but unfortunately, these feelings have not been quelled in more recent years. A 2014 study by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve cites a 20% drop in affordable housing from 2000-2014 within the city of Philadelphia, with “…losses especially acute in University City.” Just this past month, citizens living in Admiral Court and Dorsett Court – two complexes that serve mostly low-income families at 48thand Locust – were ordered to leave their homes by April 30thdue to the city ordering the landlord to seize all operations. More West Philadelphians are being pushed out, more commercialization and Penntrification comes in, and the cycle continues as if nothing ever happened. For the university to not acknowledge the role it plays in this process or assuage community concerns about how its building practices contribute to the displacement of marginalized people is, in my view, shameful and a stain on the institution’s legacy to the community it serves.
Despite my feelings towards Penn’s legacy of Penntrification, what is equally troubling is the lack of strong written dissent towards these new construction plans. Some articles written in the Daily Pennsylvanian have vocalized that the project doesn’t justify its price tag, and that $163 million could go towards more pressing student needs like increased funding for Counseling and Psychological Services or graduate students who oftentimes don’t have the financial means needed to complete their degree in a timely fashion. Even less written criticism has come from community members who will be both directly and indirectly affected by this construction project. I attended a meeting of the Spruce Hill Community Association back in February, where concerns about the building project alarmed multiple members who believed that another high-rise in the area would be “an eyesore to the community” given the amount of Penn skyscrapers already present. However, you won’t find any written documentation about their objections to these plans. That’s because the association is so cynical and skeptical that the university will genuinely engage with them that they haven’t even bothered to muster the will needed to try and stop this project from moving forward.
Ultimately, the construction of this dorm signals that the university has prioritized its own financial standing at the expense of those who live in the surrounding area. This project should never have been promoted, let alone celebrated, given that Penn has not formally acknowledged the role it has played in the displacement and eviction of so many low-income West Philadelphia residents. That said, students and community members opposed to this project could be more vocal in their concerns; from my optimistic view, heightened resistance could be the first step towards getting the university to reevaluate its priorities and its commitment to genuinely is to serve the people of the community.
