In the main Philadelphia Development thread, there is a link to an article on Philly.com about a study calling for a West Philly Innovation District. Here is the link:
http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...-20170517.html
One of the things that came out of this study is the suggestion that there should be additional stops on the MFL between 15th and 30th Streets:
"In terms of planning and development, the study backs serious consideration of improved infrastructure to aid transit between University City and western Center City, including the addition of Market-Frankford Line train stops between 15th and 30th Streets."
This is obviously not the first time time this idea has come up, although it is the first time I can remember them using the plural "stops" and not just one. It seems a no-brainer that additional stations are needed along that stretch if you are looking to develop that part of town more. So the first thing that comes up is the cost of building these stations and who pays for them. This would be a great incubator type of experiment to see how willing the private sector would be to be a major part of transit infrastructure financing, realizing that to attract major talent to their companies they need to locate near transit. The city could exchange zoning considerations for companies looking to build here and contribute to new subway stations, for example. I don't think I would be in favor of the ad hoc tax breaks that the city normally gives. The city needs to realize that if it has to give so many tax breaks to so many individual companies then it probably needs to revamp its entire taxing structure (which they desperately do.) But zoning considerations, as they do in New York all the time, seems a reasonable place to start to incentivize companies to locate and develop properties here.