Development and jobs converge in hot spot

By Natalie Kostelni

University City has hit some remarkable milestones this year that paint a portrait of a neighborhood with serious momentum, according to University City District’s recent annual report.

In contrast to its neighbor across the Schuylkill River, Center City, University City is growing jobs and ones that pay well. From 2008 until 2013, the area that’s home to some of Philadelphia’s largest academic and medical institutions, saw a 79 percent rise in middle- to high-wage jobs ($40,000 in annual pay or more) and it has grown to have 75,000 jobs. University City has one of the most educated workforces, as well, with 56 percent of residents having a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, which makes sense because many people in the community work in academia and health care.

“In a city whose progress has been constrained by tepid private sector job growth, the magical mix of academic, research and commercial partners in University City is leading the region — and much of the country — in the acceleration of economic activity,” wrote Matt Bergheiser, executive director of the University City District, in a letter that accompanies the organization’s annual report.

With University City on a trajectory of becoming an increasingly more robust, innovation district, it’s expected that more jobs are on the horizon and that it will become an even stronger economic development engine for the city and region. Bergheiser and his team predict the area will exceed 76,000 jobs by the end of next year. The biggest employers, in order, are the University of Pennsylvania, the Penn Health System and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The boost in the area’s job growth is seeping into other economic indicators:

“There are other pieces of the puzzle when you think about what completes the picture,” he said. “What allows growth to continue and [creates] neighborhoods that are attractive to talented people and employees is the infrastructure. The streets and the spaces in between as well as the entrepreneurial infrastructure, which is everything that the Science Center, Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania are doing. That’s the next big step that has to be taken here.”