Tom Corcoran named to lead riverfront agency

Tom Corcoran says he sometimes peers through a telescope at Penn's Landing from his home in Camden's Victor building, wondering what he could accomplish if he were in charge on this side of the Delaware River.

We'll soon find out.

Mayor Nutter yesterday named Corcoran the new president of the Delaware River Waterfront Corp., the nonprofit agency he created in January to take over riverfront management from the former Penn's Landing Corp.

Corcoran, who will be paid $195,000 a year, starts Oct. 1 but said he plans to get involved right away in creating a master plan to develop the four miles known as the central Delaware waterfront.

In 1984, Corcoran helped start the Cooper's Ferry Development Association, which worked on planning Camden's riverfront. Nutter praised that work, noting that Corcoran had helped attract more than $500 million in development.

"There is no reason in the world that Philadelphia should not have one of the best waterfronts, not just in America but anywhere in the world," said Nutter, acknowledging that Penn's Landing development has proceeded in fits and starts over the years. "This is a huge place. It requires a lot of investment, a lot of commitment."

Corcoran said that past riverfront-development efforts were hampered by the city's attempt to focus projects only on the 20 acres that make up Penn's Landing, instead of on the four miles now being studied.

Nutter and Corcoran spoke during a news conference on Delaware Avenue in front of Pier 11, a weed-strewn lot with cracked pavement that is to be transformed by this time next year into a public park. Across the river in Camden, the Adventure Aquarium and Campbell's Field ballpark stand as visible examples of that city's waterfront successes.

Nutter said the city's approach to the riverfront will now be through a master plan instead of seeking one developer to work on a single massive project.

Corcoran replaces Joe Brooks, who started working for the Penn's Landing Corp. in 1989 and has been acting president of the agency since 2004.

Brooks said that he had considered submitting his resume for the job, but that after speaking with members of the new board appointed by Nutter in January it was clear that "they wished to go in a new direction."