Penn Park to Open Thursday

UPenn’s much-anticipated Penn Park officially opens Thursday. Running north to south between Walnut and South streets and bounded by Septa and Amtrak lines on the east and west, the site used to be, in part, home to a parking lot for mail trucks—not much to look at. After two years of construction, the new space now features trees, gardens, a picnic grove and a bevy of Penn sports facilities.

The Inquirer has the nitty-gritty details, but let’s do an at-a-glance breakdown of the numbers, shall we?

• 24: total acreage of Penn Park, including two acres of open space and a picnic grove.
• 2: number of synthetic-turf athletic fields.
• 300,000: total gallons of storm water the tank under those fields can hold. The water can be repurposed for irrigating the park.
• 470: total seats in the new multi-purpose stadium.
• 530: number of newly planted trees.
• 210: number of parking spaces in the new lot on Walnut at 31st Street.
• 12: number of courts in the indoor tennis center.
• 46 million: total dollars spent rehabbing the 24 acres in University City. The project didn’t eat up a cent of public money; it was funded through donations and by Penn itself.

The park will be open from 6 AM to midnight. Check out a map here.