![]() “All the areas that touch Center City have been rehabilitated and rebuilt,” he added. He estimated that “100,000 additional people have been drawn to Center City and its immediate surroundings.” ![]() These efforts were visible they made people feel comfortable coming to Philadelphia again, and, according to Zuritsky, they galvanized migration to Center City. Paul Levy (Courtesy of AJC Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey) It just “set the stage.” Levy’s organization put in lower lights to illuminate sidewalks, cleaned up graffiti and “bought machines that blasted the sidewalk and got the gum off of it,” Zuritsky said. “Paul is brilliant.”Īs Levy explained, his Center City District that led this effort did not construct any buildings. “Paul created a district that was probably 98% business,” Zuritsky said. ![]() The businessmen tapped Levy to guide the development project. Since Zuritsky led a private parking company, he saw Levy as a competitor and “jumped” at the chance to work with him. The business leaders knew Levy because he was running the Philadelphia Parking Authority. Developers are willing to take risks and invest in the future and, therefore, are more willing to be taxed at a higher level, Zuritsky explained. Zuritsky, Rubin and other businessmen determined that Philadelphia’s special services district should feature businesses. Rubin researched other cities and discovered that they had created successful “special services districts.” These were clean, safe areas that could be taxed at higher levels for “special services,” Zuritsky said. After the purchase, Rubin wanted to fill his hotel with high-end tenants and “remake Walnut Street from Broad to Rittenhouse Square,” Zuritsky said. ![]() Everyone went inside when the sun went down.Īccording to Zuritsky, in 1991 Jewish developer Ronald Rubin bought the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel on South Broad Street. Zuritsky remembers the city as “dark, dangerous and dirty” before Levy got to work. “Everything was about community commitment.” In the coming years, he would need to work with the private sector to achieve his goals. But in the 1980s, while still working for the city, he realized that the budget for community development had dropped from the last year of the Jimmy Carter administration in 1980 to the first year of the Ronald Reagan administration. ![]() Levy founded the Center City District in 1991. Levy is being honored for his many local accomplishments as the founding CEO of the Center City District, an organization that tries to make Philly an attractive destination for employees, residents and tourists, according to its website.Īn AJC news release lists Levy’s accomplishments as “$151 million in streetscape, lighting, park and facade improvements,” the “$60 million reconstruction of Dilworth Park” next to City Hall and the renovation of four other parks. 16 at the Down Town Club, a venue on Chestnut Street, Levy will receive the 2022 Civic Achievement Award from the American Jewish Committee Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey, a nonprofit that works to combat antisemitism and promote Israel. Chairman Joe Zuritsky, an associate for many years, said, “It’s Paul more than anyone who has built Center City.” Almost five decades later, he’s still living in Center City. Very quickly, you meet a lot of people.”Īnd once Levy met people, he never left. “I fell in love with the scale of the city,” he said. Then he walked a few blocks and recognized that, all of a sudden, he was in a neighborhood. We do not share data with third party vendors.īut when Levy arrived, he started walking around and saw a similarly dense downtown to the one he experienced in New York. Get Jewish Exponent's Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories ![]()
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