Temple Abandons Plans for Controversial New Schuylkill Boathouse

The fight (the row, if you will) over Temple’s proposed boathouse off Kelly Drive is over. Facing blowback from the city and the Philadelphia Parks Alliance, Temple has withdrawn its plans to build a spiffy new facility for its river-riding athletes. The controversy was such: Temple wanted to build a $8 million-$12 million, 23,000 square foot building by the Strawberry Mansion Bridge, but didn’t want to abide by the city’s new law that it give a similar parcel of open land to the city in exchange. Instead, it pledged to renovate its old boathouse for $1.5 million. The Parks alliances was peeved, the city was nonplussed, and now Temple has gotten the message. And the school’s crew will continue rowing out of a tent. [Daily News]