Construction is scheduled to be complete by mid- to late summer 2011, in time for the start of that academic year.
"It's a tremendously exciting time in Penn's history, to be able to add a significant amount of open space adjacent to the campus in an economic climate like this," said Anne Papageorge, Penn's vice president for facilities and real estate services.
Penn in 2004 purchased 14 acres from the Postal Service and announced plans for the park, two office towers with a mix of university space, retail and residential areas, and a 2,400-space parking garage. The park project also includes 10 acres previously owned by the university.
A developer purchased the postal building from Penn - making Penn's net cost for the postal lands $12 million - and will lease it to the IRS after renovations are complete. Construction of the garage also is under way and is scheduled to be completed next summer, and plans are in the works for the towers.
But Papageorge said the towers project, in partnership with Brandywine Realty Trust, may be delayed given the economy.
Their construction could be "impacted by the credit markets and just the fact that people are not really making bold moves into new space in this economy," she said. The towers are scheduled to be completed between 2012 to 2014.
Penn will occupy about 100,000 square feet of the 40- to 50-story office tower on Walnut Street, with commercial space on the ground floor. The 25- to 30-story tower on Chestnut Street would be residential, and might include some boutique office space, she said.
Penn president Amy Gutmann has called the project, estimated to cost $1.94 billion, a new "Gateway to the University."
