How much gentrification & redevelopment would it take for Philly to reach Chicago or D.C. status?

[MarketStEl]

thedirtypirate is right. Wealth — and household income is actually a measure of affluence rather than wealth; wealth comes from household assets — and innovation are not one and the same.

Venture capital investment is the metric one should use for innovation. That $8.1 billion figure tdp cited for Philadelphia represents the dollar value of the 441 venture capital deals completed in Greater Philadelphia in the last calendar year, according to PitchBook; you'll find it cited in this Axios Philadelphia article.

Also note that this represents a real surge: that figure is nearly triple the investment made the year before, and it shot the region up to 6th place among all U.S. cities (=metro areas here).

I'm going to assume that PitchBook — a widely used database of venture capital deals — is also the source of the figures they cited for Chicagoland and the DMV.

My brick-and-mortar data point for how much the innovation community has grown here is 3675 Market Street, the most recently completed office building at the University City Science Center. Pre-pandemic, this building hosted a slew of networking and educational events for startups, researchers, entrepreneurs and the like, including the monthly Venture Cafe, in its forum facility. I imagine we will see these return in the months ahead.

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Also note that this represents a real surge: that figure is nearly triple the investment made the year before, and it shot the region up to 6th place among all U.S. cities (=metro areas here).

It was the most ever for every city, and we weren't outside the top 10 before either.



"Gentrification" doesn't begin or end with the households in the city limits. The world doesn't function like a vacuum. It's not only city residents filling restaurants, sporting venues, concerts, and museums. The fact that Amerisourcebergen and Rite Aid, two of the biggest corporations in Pennsylvania, decided to move their HQs to Conshy and the Navy Yard should be clear evidence that the city is still the center of gravity for the regional economy and not just the cultural center.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by thedirtypirate

It was the most ever for every city, and we weren't outside the top 10 before either.



"Gentrification" doesn't begin or end with the households in the city limits. The world doesn't function like a vacuum. It's not only city residents filling restaurants, sporting venues, concerts, and museums. The fact that Amerisourcebergen and Rite Aid, two of the biggest corporations in Pennsylvania, decided to move their HQs to Conshy and the Navy Yard should be clear evidence that the city is still the center of gravity for the regional economy and not just the cultural center.

In the case of Rite Aid Corp., from the Harrisburg suburb of Camp Hill.

But wasn't AmerisourceBergen already headquartered in the Philadelphia area?

[thedirtypirate]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

In the case of Rite Aid Corp., from the Harrisburg suburb of Camp Hill.

But wasn't AmerisourceBergen already headquartered in the Philadelphia area?

Chesterbrook. Which isn’t that much further but Conshocken, to me, says “we wanted to be in the city but the BIRT isn’t going to allow it”. In any case, it is closer to the city.