About EBA

Statement of Purpose

East of Broad Improvement Association (EBA) is a nonprofit community development organization dedicated to the sustained improvement of economic opportunity and quality of life in the commercial and residential corridor east of Broad Street, in Center City Philadelphia. The organization draws on the strong representation of the business community and civic institutions in the East of Broad district as well as the increasingly strong presence of residents living and working in Center City. The revitalization of this area in the heart of Philadelphia's downtown is crucial to the future of the city as a whole and its continued economic vitality.

Our target area runs from the north side of Market Street to the south side of South Street; and from the west side of Seventh Street to the east side of Broad Street. These nearly sixty square blocks represent a critical core in the heart of Center City, flanked by City Hall, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the Kimmel Regional Performing Arts Center and Independence Hall—nearly sixty square blocks that will help to determine Philadelphia's success as a 21st-century metropolis.

With a unique mix of residential, commercial and institutional structures and uses, East of Broad claims extraordinary assets. One of its signature assets is its very strategic location at the nexus of the urban grid, buttressed on all sides by many of the city's most important historical and cultural venues both past, present and future.

A second asset is its rich stock of historic buildings. East of Broad is a remarkable repository of commercial architecture spanning the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the first third of the twentieth century. It also contains an extraordinary collection of important institutional buildings (e.g., Pennsylvania Hospital and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania) that present a vivid visual record of the city's history and growth. East of Broad also showcases an eclectic range of domestic architecture spanning nearly two full centuries.

A third major asset of the area is the convergence within the district of key transportation lines—subways, buses and regional rail lines at Market East—that make East of Broad a transportation hub ideally suited for pedestrian traffic.

Unfortunately, the area is also beset with significant problems. Especially along the 13th Street corridor, prostitution and drug-dealing have become seriously entrenched, more so than in any other part of Center City. Crime and public safety are real issues, not simply perceptual problems. The construction of a large number of modern office towers west of Broad in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in vacancies, deterioration and blight east of Broad.

Moreover, the retail environment has seriously eroded as well, especially along the eastern end of Chestnut Street, once a commercial mecca. Indeed, the area boasts relatively few national retailing chains other than the department stores and not a single movie theater. Property speculation and the exodus of long-term investment have aggravated all of these problems. Notwithstanding many positive development efforts in recent years, East of Broad still retains a reputation as unsafe and rundown. In one of the world's greatest walking cities, this central district, though rapidly improving, is still too often skirted or avoided by residents and tourists alike.

Yet, its location alone makes the area critical to the renaissance now underway in Philadelphia, one that will set the city's course in the new millennium. Philadelphia's economic plan will focus increasingly on tourism and the arts. Much of this development is in Center City, and, more particularly, in the area bounded by East of Board. As the Philadelphia City Planning Commission noted in its study of the area, A Renewal Agenda for Off Broad East, "Without a major improvement in the current poor condition of many of the area's businesses, buildings, and streets, neither the Convention Center nor the Avenue of the Arts will realize their full potential."

Furthermore, a report commissioned by the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia argues that historic renovation can significantly strengthen the city's economy. Already national hotel operators have converted nearly a dozen historic or older Philadelphia buildings to hotels and lodgings, and several large residential developers are turning older Center City office buildings into apartments and condominiums. East of Broad offers excellent opportunities for such conversions as well as new development projects. Many of the buildings now obsolete for their original purpose are admirable candidates for adaptive reuse.

Without a doubt, East of Broad offers unique resources to Philadelphia. It is ripe for development and rich with potential. The challenge for the larger community, and for East of Broad Improvement Association, is to help this core area of the nation's sixth-largest city realize its potential.

EBA is well equipped to play a leading role in this effort. The organization has a proven track record in revitalization efforts East of Broad. WashWest Neighbors, founded in 1995 by Ruthanne Madway, EBA's executive director, brought together a core group of business people, real estate developers, civic institutions and residents of Washington Square West. The group launched the Thirteenth Street Improvement Project, which evolved from a grass-roots effort into a major civic campaign to transform the 13th Street corridor in Center City from a former red-light district into a thriving commercial and residential corridor.

The Project was instrumental in closing a massage parlor and illegal all-night dance club, reversed a liquor license application for the northwest corner of 13th and Locust Streets (home to nuisance establishments for 25 years), eliminated numerous pay phones used to facilitate drug and prostitution activity, and raised more than $65,000 to hire private counsel to shepherd a series of zoning and licensing cases through the courts. In the process, WashWest Neighbors worked with the Philadelphia Police Department to commit major resources to enforcement operations East of Broad, set a new tone for 13th Street by pressing for vigorous enforcement of zoning and licensing regulations, and established relationships with more than 100 businesses and a significant number of the civic and cultural institutions in Washington Square West.

Drawing on these successes, East of Broad Improvement Association has brought together commercial, institutional and residential interests in a comprehensive, integrated strategy of short-term objectives and long-term goals from quality-of-life issues to economic development. More specifically, EBA continues to heighten public awareness of the district's strengths and weaknesses. The organization is promoting creative solutions to persistent problems hindering economic growth; it is working to attract new businesses and other development; and it is forging new alliances with public and private agencies and institutions that can benefit East of Broad and Philadelphia as a whole. EBA’s approach emphasizes active engagement, promotion and education. We earnestly seek productive collaborations with other organizations that share our goals.

East of Broad Improvement Association is the only organization in Philadelphia with a professional full-time staff member devoted exclusively to the development of this unique and crucial district in the heart of the central city. EBA has established itself as a powerful voice for the East of Broad community as it takes its rightful place in the overall revitalization of our great city.