Lancaster Avenue needs more investment to grow

By: Christopher Russell

Posted: 5/22/09

With the advent of the new Powelton Pizza location, it would seem that Lancaster Avenue is ripe for further development, and in a recession no less.

The Lancaster Avenue of which I'm speaking stretches from 34th Street out to Spring Garden. Ostensibly, the critical mass for the coming success of the street is upon us. There is a 7-Eleven, an upscale Mexican Outpost, Zocalo, four pizza places, The Fencing Academy, two hair salons, one tanning salon, a dry cleaners, bike repair and skateboard shops, Lemon Grass, Green Line café, a bank, Scooter's Pub and an exterminator supply store. Variety it has, but why is Lancaster not Drexel's "Sansom Street?"

The lack of design, overall plan, and speculating landowners on this stretch of Lancaster could be to blame. The basic ingredients of any good street design are present, but are simultaneously missing as well. Pedestrian-scaled lighting (no taller than 10 feet in height), properly pruned street trees (to allow more sunlight to reach the sidewalk), quality walking surfaces (the sidewalks on the 3400 block being treacherous at best), and attractive exterior lighting are the foundations needed for the avenue to create visual sophistication. Some of these recommendations will wrongly be interpreted as a desire for a curated landscape of national chains, a la Suburban Square in Ardmore. However, by dictating a basal consensus on traditional beauty, Lancaster will be in the position to gracefully continue its evolution from major toll road, to disinvested street, to its current incarnation of burgeoning commercial strip.

The block-long Lancaster Mews (which houses the aforementioned dry cleaners and Lemon Grass) suffers from cluttered storefronts, non-transparent shop windows, unlit night time displays, and small, uncongenial retail space configurations. Some of these problems could be solved by the landlord mandating specific tenant design guidelines to encourage an engaging streetfront. A more substantial investment by the building owner could be undertaken to transform some of the retail spaces also. Physically combining storefronts to create more commercially marketable spaces would be ideal. Admittedly, without a more relaxed credit market, such repositioning may not be possible at this time; however, letters of intent from credit worthy retailers will only help a developer's construction loan application. Fortunately, many storefronts already have desirable sizes for small businesses, (albeit with provincial interior layouts) so going to the expense of merging them isn't always necessary.

38th and Lancaster sees Ted's Pizza and Spring Chinese committing a common exterior architectural faux pas: garish neon and tasteless plastic signage lit from within. Overall, this type of public communication is ugly and lends the street a cluttered aesthetic. Ironically, both shops possess the recommended transparency made possible through large window walls, but in turn, broadcast their exhaustingly trite interiors.

A scar on the unsightly, but high-functioning 3500 block is the old Mokas hookah bar. With an over 10-month old liquor license application in the window touting Buffalo Bill's Charcoal Pit, one has hope that such a prominent location and conceivably-splendent outdoor garden would further catalyze Lancaster to get its act together. The Mokas space (not to be confused with actual Grecian ruins) hovers in the same development purgatory as the tarp-covered, yet still charming, storefront at 36th and Race. This small jewel-case of a store could easily be reborn as a cozy café (seriously, college students love cafes) with outdoor seating along Race Street.

The new Powelton Pizza location and design is definitely a step in the right direction for store and street design on Lancaster Avenue. Reinterpreting an historic façade to create a handsome and (yes) transparent storefront brightens the sidewalk and indicates to passersby that this restaurant is open for business. The interior and exterior are unremarkable, but done nicely enough. Perhaps this is the point: proper urban design does not have to be avant-garde architectural expression, but one that takes into account the physiological effects of the walking experience.

Huge development opportunities on Lancaster still abound. The rowhouses adjacent to 7-Eleven are begging to be remodeled and restored into restaurants with outdoor patio seating and apartments above. The Drexel parking lot across the street is already planning on becoming structured parking (read: parking garage). Hopefully the tenets of good urban design can be followed there as well. Namely: ensure that the garage looks nothing like a garage, have an attractive streetscape, include groundfloor uses on Lancaster to reinforce it as the commercial corridor, and locate the exits and entrances on Warren Street.

With SEPTA's 10 trolley traveling the street 24 hours a day, there is little reason Lancaster Avenue cannot become a bustling street that contributes substantially to the quality of life for Powelton Village and creates an identity that transcends its pallid strip of pizza shops.

Christopher Russell is a senior majoring in civil engineering. He can be reached at op-ed@thetriangle.org.