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A new traffic median in front of Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center on South Broad Street has been rebuilt as a 230-foot-long green ribbon elevated a couple of feet above the asphalt, planted with canopy trees and blooming flowers.
The new green space, which is not accessible to pedestrians, is a taste of what developer Carl Dranoff and Avenue of the Arts Inc. have in mind for the mile-long stretch of Broad Street from City Hall to Washington Avenue.
“We call it our beta project to show people what’s coming,” said Dranoff, Avenue of the Arts Inc. board chair. “We’ve taken a derelict, weed-strewn concrete bunker of a median strip, which we call an ugly duckling, and have made it into a beautiful swan.”
Dignitaries water the plants in a raised median strip dividing South Broad Street between Spruce and Pine streets. The new median features native trees and plantings, a rainwater-collection cistern, and lighting. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
Dubbed Avenue of the Arts 2.0, the $150 million master plan aims to envelope South Broad Street in greenery, redesigning its sidewalks with continuous planters large enough to contain full-size trees and carving out niches for public art and performance spaces.
The fully realized plan will be years in the making. Construction is taking an iterative approach, designing and building a block at a time as resources allow. Reconstruction of the sidewalks of the 300 block of South Broad will begin in 2027.
The block of South Broad Street between Spruce and Pine streets is the first of 10 blocks between City Hall and Washington Avenue to get a raised median filled with plantings. (Emma Lee/WHYY)
Avenue of the Arts Inc. pushed to get the initial median strip finished early so it would be in place for an anticipated busy summer.
“While this may be the first block, it sends a powerful message that progress is here and visible,” said board member Tiffany White.