University City District Awarded Grant from PECO for 40th Street Trolley Portal

We are pleased to announce that University City District has been awarded a $6,500 grant from PECO and Natural Lands Trust as part of their Green Region Open Space Program. University City was one of only five nonprofit organizations in the Greater Philadelphia region to receive funds from PECO’s municipal open space and environmental grant program, which has awarded nearly $1.4 million for more than 180 projects since its inception in 2004.

This money will be put toward UCD’s 40^th Street Trolley Portal project, which joins The Porch at 30^th Street Station, Woodland Green, and the parklets as the next in our list of public spaces within University City to receive a transformation into vibrant, sustainable neighborhood assets. Our goal with the 40^th Street Trolley Portal is the creation of a new park to serve as a much-needed gathering space for transit riders in addition to area residents, employees, and students. The improved Portal will have trees to offer respite from the summer sun, a high-performance landscape to filter stormwater, chairs and benches to draw pedestrians to relax after a long day's work, native plant species to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, and Pennsylvania bluestone boulders to allow children the joy of climbing of rocks.

Once complete, The Portal will demonstrate the powerful combination of great urban design, infrastructure renewal, and innovative responses to economic growth—a green demonstration project that will increase transit ridership, serve University City’s critical jobs base, and elevate University City’s status as one of the desirable and profitable places to live, work, and do business in the state of Pennsylvania.

Our thanks go out to PECO and Natural Lands Trust for helping us move one step closer to achieving this goal.