Many changes are already in the works.
Drexel, intent on filling the void between its campus and the station, last month spent $21.8 million for 3.6 acres of parking lots on the western doorstep of the station for future university housing, academic buildings, or commercial space.
And on the south side of the station, construction crews for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation are building a 55-foot-wide pedestrian plaza with lights and granite benches as the foundation of a Station Square aimed at transforming that block-long desert into an oasis. The plaza will be mirrored by another one across Market Street, in front of the old 30th Street Post Office building, which now houses the IRS.
Amtrak is working with PennDot, Drexel, the University of Pennsylvania, city officials, SEPTA, and other groups as it prepares to draw up the master plan. The agency is still waiting on funding to proceed, and the plan could take a year or more to complete.
The neighbors and users of 30th Street Station have told Amtrak that they want a station area that is more pedestrian-friendly, provides better access to SEPTA's subways and trolleys, and makes a better connection between the bustling precincts of West Philadelphia and Center City. About 16,000 people work within a quarter-mile of the station.
"Finding a way to knit the city together better is of very high interest to us," said Alan Greenberger, Philadelphia deputy mayor for economic development and chairman of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. He said the lifeless stretches on the west and east sides of the station needed to be invigorated to make a "seamless" link with both sides of the Schuylkill.
One of the holy grails for planners, Greenberger said, is a better connection between 30th Street Station and the area around the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Parkway.
