Rail Park expansion one step closer to reality with William Penn Foundation grant

The William Penn Foundation is putting $2 million toward the design and engineering of the extended Rail Park, its board agreed at its August meeting.

The next phase of the Rail Park will convert the long-neglected railroad viaduct that runs from Vine Street to Fairmount Avenue into a greenway, more than doubling the current length of the elevated park system.

The grant will allow Center City District, which is masterminding the Rail Park, to concentrate on capital fundraising. With the latest grant, the total is nearing the $3.5 million needed to put out the bidding documents for construction.

“It’s a very, very important grant because it helps us get construction documents by April of next year,” said Paul Levy, chair of the district’s board and the organization’s former president. “We still have huge tasks in front of us to raise capital, but this has moved from nice renderings of a park to exactly what will it cost to build the first phase of this.”

Levy estimates the final project will cost $60 million to $65 million.

Center City District has been tasked by Philadelphia officials with planning and building the rail park and, crucially, with negotiating for the property with Reading International.

The California-based company, which largely owns movie theaters, has long neglected its Philadelphia properties and city officials and local developers have sought to obtain them for decades.

Levy, who has been assigned the lead negotiating role by City Council, says that Reading’s finances are in a perilous enough state that the company may now be more amenable to a sale.

“They are selling off assets, and so we’re hoping that by the fall they will be in a much more receptive position to conversation,” said Levy.

Reading International did not respond to a request for comment.