Besides little cousins you haven’t seen since last Thanksgiving (Hi guys!), few things can change as quickly as the built environment when several construction projects are taking place at once. After our trip to 30th Street Station to check out the updated, $550-million plans for a station revamp, we did a little loop to check out some nearby action as well. We noticed a crane to the west as we left the station, so we were immediately drawn toward Drexel’s campus, where a big project has made a bunch of progress since we last swung by in the summer.

That’s right, things are charging ahead at 3201 Cuthbert St. for the giant RAMSA-designed building, developed on Drexel’s campus by Gattuso Development Partners. The foundation was still in process when we last visited, but steel is now making its presence felt where this 11-story tower is rising. In addition to loads of lab space, there will be ground floor retail to activate the street level, along with a future pedestrianization of Cuthbert St. in the future stages of the project. Sadly, nothing was happening at the Ultra Labs site immediately next door, at least not yet.

To the south, at 3151 Market St., the second ground-up Schuylkill Yards building is topped off and receiving its facade treatment. Yet another life sciences building, this design from Gensler and developers Brandywine Realty Trust is completely changing the feel as one walks around toward the station, especially in tandem with the Avira residential tower close by. This one will also take a mixed-use approach, with ground-floor retail also included here to keep the street engaged with the building.

Finally, we encountered one last steel update, this one of the infrastructure variety. A new headhouse is above ground for the Market Frankford Line, which will make for a more welcoming entrance for those in the area, though the station still won’t connect underground to 30th Street Station in any pending phase of work. Mr. Streets Dept, Conrad Benner, also recently snagged some shots of the updated station, which is certainly an improvement over what we’ve seen here for many years.

All told, these projects are continuing the rapid ascension of the area around 30th Street Station. Not that it could have gotten worse than it was previously, it is rather awe-inspiring seeing the mass of new and exciting construction, much of it connected to the exploding life sciences industry in the region. We hope to see this area continue to evolve – who knows, maybe someday we’ll even get that supertall tower that has caught our attention since the early days of the plans for the area.