City negotiating with viaduct owner

BUILT IN the 1890s, the Reading Viaduct carried workers on trains into Center City for nearly 100 years.

Rail service on the viaduct ended in 1984 with the opening of the Center City commuter tunnel that now carries trains into SEPTA's Market East station beneath the Gallery.

The viaduct section that crossed Vine Street was torn down for the construction of the Vine Street Expressway and Pennsylvania Convention Center. But the remaining viaduct, which is 4.7 acres, curves above 10 city blocks north of Vine on two separate elevated railway bridges.

Paul Levy, executive director of the Center City District, said that a study his agency commissioned found that it would cost more to remove the viaduct - $50 million - than to restore the grounds into a park - only $36 million.

The Center City District and SEPTA are working on a legal agreement to start the process of creating a park on the SEPTA-owned portion, Levy said. The Center City District received grants from two foundations to pay for design work for a park, and that work has begun, he said.

Reading, now based in California, owes a substantial amount of back taxes, and the viaduct has become "a blighting influence in the neighborhood and a liability for whoever owns it," he said.

Reading reportedly owes $1.4 million in back taxes. Alan Greenberger, the city's deputy mayor for economic developm.ent, said that the city is trying to sort out fines for code violations and other penalties to come up with an exact figure.

- Valerie Russ