Research & Reports

Sustained by a diversified retail customer base that includes the third largest downtown population in the U.S., workers, tourists, and regional visitors, Center City Philadelphia is on pace for the second consecutive year of positive net openings, according to the new Center City District/Central Philadelphia Development Corporation Center City Retail, November 2022.

Does Philadelphia have what it takes to recover? This Center City District/Central Philadelphia Development Corporation report examines Philadelphia’s signs of recovery, and remaining challenges, after two years of profound disruption.

This report compares Philadelphia to five other urban areas in United States. It documents how Philadelphia lags in firms that sell services nationally and globally, but suggests that if we replicate the success achieved by others, we will grow more family-sustaining jobs and a prosperous network of small, local businesses.

Nearly two years after Philadelphia offices were ordered to close as the first COVID-19 cases were detected, and more than a year after vaccinations got underway, Center City and University City companies are continuing to adapt and remain flexible, while strongly valuing the importance of in-office work and a downtown presence, according to a CCD survey. CCD distributed a survey to employers to gauge their current stance on in-office and remote work, their plans for the first quarter of 2022, and factors they were weighing in making workplace decisions.

For the last two decades, Greater Center City has been the fastest growing residential section of both Philadelphia and the entire region. After a temporary dip in population, the number of downtown residents on sidewalks in Center City had rebounded to 2019 levels by the end of 2021. Rents and home sale prices held up and the number of newly-permitted residential units in both Center City and citywide reached the highest point in decades in 2021.

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