A newer, greener Avenue of the Arts is in the works

Starting with Broad Street in 2026, a decadelong $100-million project is expected to be set in motion

A greener, art-infused streetscape is expected to debut on a single block of South Broad Street in 2026 — setting the stage for a more ambitious, decadelong $100-million makeover of the entire stretch of Avenue of the Arts south.

“It’s moving along, it’s going to happen,” said Avenue of the Arts, Inc. executive director Laura Burkhardt of the beautification initiative, to be announced Tuesday.

More than three decades have passed since Broad Street from City Hall to Washington Avenue was branded as the Avenue of the Arts, bringing retro light poles, planters, and checkerboard pavers along with hundreds of millions of dollars in new arts facilities.

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The new streetscape proposes next-generation concepts like traffic-calming devices and lush plantings, but the overarching objective is the same as the first:

“To get more people excited about South Broad and to attract more economic development,” said Burkhardt. “That’s the goal — to make it more beautiful and livable, to support the arts and to give people a reason to come down and visit.”

The project is being launched with arts attendance still struggling to reach pre-pandemic levels and as the city reels from the abrupt closure of the University of the Arts — a once-major contributor to Broad Street’s pedestrian density and vitality.

Work on the new streetscape will begin with a pilot project on Broad between Pine and Spruce Streets projected to be complete by April 2026. The median will be landscaped, and portions of the right lanes where cars and buses currently pull over for drop-off and pickup will be given over to plantings, street furniture, and art installations.

The intention is to create a buffer between vehicular traffic and pedestrians, and to carve out spaces for respite and social gatherings.

“We’re trying to help organize the nature of how people utilize the street so that it becomes safer overall,” said Drew Stangel, a landscape architect working on the project from OJB Landscape Architecture in Boston.

After Pine to Spruce is done, leaders hope that “wow moment” will inspire funding that allows the block between Locust and Spruce to be redone next — the stretch that includes the Academy of Music, Miller Theater, and Wilma Theater — and then eventually the rest of the blocks between City Hall and Washington Avenue

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Burkhardt anticipates that the $100 million required for the entire one-mile stretch will come from both public and private sources — local, state, and federal government; foundations; and corporate and individual donors.

“We’re looking at a 10-year project,” she said.

The Pine-to-Spruce makeover is expected to cost between $6 million and $10 million, of which $1 million has so far been raised in the form of funds from the city’s capital budget.

The Avenue of the Arts has a “great legacy,” says Oliver Schaper, an urban designer for the project from the New York office of the architecture/design firm, Gensler. But the “public realm portion of the Avenue has had not enough attention to live up to the character and caliber of urban boulevard that it really could be.”

That meant finding the right balance among the various uses of the space, and using landscaping to prioritize the pedestrian experience.

“It’s not just about a physical barrier, it’s about all the health benefits that come with it,” said Stangel. “It’s noise canceling, it’s pollution purification, getting people away from the exhaust.”

New signs, banners, bus shelters, street furniture, and interactive elements like porch swings are also likely additions. Art will be integrated into the design. Philadelphia art consultant Julia Guerrero has been engaged to consult on the streetscape art.

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The design of the pilot block won’t simply be replicated elsewhere on Broad.

Rather, elements that “play out on this block will play out in slightly different versions as we go up and down from there, because of the change in character of surrounding land use, of surrounding bulk and massing of buildings, of setbacks, of other circumstances,” said Schaper. “So in a sense, ultimately each block will have its unique particular appearance.”

Doing a project of this scale will be a heavy lift for Avenue of the Arts, Inc. The organization has overseen maintenance of elements of the streetscape — repainting and rewiring the light poles, tending the planters — and has a track record of raising money for those kinds of projects. But raising $100 million? “We have never embarked on anything like this,” said Burkhardt.

Lobbyists and fundraising consultants have been brought in to help. And then there’s the persuasion potential that comes with proof of concept.

“Once we get started and have something to show,” said Burkhardt, “getting people to invest and [be] involved in the project will be a whole lot easier.”