Drexel University Begins Construction on 24-Story Student Highrise
By Paul Kurtz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Drexel University held a ceremonial groundbreaking today for a high-rise, mixed-use development at Lancaster Avenue and 34th Street.
The bulldozers and backhoes have been chewing up the earth for some time now at the corner of 34th and Lancaster. Rising up at that location over the next two years will be the largest project in Drexel's history.
"A 24-story, 580,000-square-foot student housing, dining, retail complex," notes university senior vice president Jim Tucker (at far right in photo), "with over 1,300 student housing beds, a 400-seat student and community dining center, 20,000 square feet of retail. It'll anchor the eastern edge of Lancaster Avenue and help revitalize the important commercial corridor in West Philadelphia."
The $170-million development is scheduled to open in two years.
