WXPN gets set for move down Walnut

Nationally syndicated radio program World Cafe may soon be serving its listeners from a new location in Philadelphia.

Officials from Penn’s public radio station WXPN, one of many stations which broadcasts the World Cafe, are in discussions with Penn officials to move the station from its present location at 3905 Spruce Street to a new broadcasting and performance space based around the concept of the popular program.

The proposed location at 3025 Walnut Street was formerly the home of the Hajoca Plumbing Company. Now owned by the University, the building has been vacant for many years and will require multi-million dollar renovations.

“We’ve been looking [for a venue] for over four years,” said WXPN General Manager Vincent Curren. “It’s a very complicated deal. It requires a lot of things.”

“As soon as we walked into the [Hajoca] space, it was clear this would be perfect.”

The $12.3 million proposal is awaiting final approval by the University Board of Trustees, which owns WXPN, later this month.

“We have the expectation that it will be fine, but at this point, it’s just a proposal,” Curren said.

The two-story, 40,000-square-foot building would house the WXPN office and their broadcasts, including the World Cafe, currently syndicated to 150 stations nationally. Additionally, the space would house three performance venues.

A large portion of the lower level of the building would be occupied by the main venue, the World Cafe Live — a restaurant capable of seating 350 and featuring a large performance stage.

Hal Real, the president of Real Entertainment, partnered with WXPN to create this radio reality.

The stage and restaurant “will enable people to enjoy music in a serious way,” Real said.

Real said that he was prompted to partner with WXPN on the project because of his “desire to help the artists, the XPN station, and to enjoy a more intimate live music experience… for people who want to enjoy music in a serious way.”

A coffeehouse will be located on the second floor. The 80-person cafe will be open every day from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.

A series of windows and an outdoor cafe on the Walnut Street side of the building will enable the public to view the coffeehouse performances and the live broadcasts from the WXPN studio at all times.

Curren and Real said that they hoped the windows would provide an atmosphere of invitation to the public, similar to NBC’s The Today Show, which is broadcast live daily from Rockefeller Plaza.

“We’re a public radio station, and we want it to be a very public space,” Curren said.

“We hope that [the venues] will attract not only students but people of all ages and ethnicities in the area,” Real added.

Curren said that any questions about the safety of the windowed Walnut Street side will be addressed with added security.

“The windows will be bulletproofed and very thick,” he said. “It’s really no different from any other security problem.”

Other aspects of the Hajoca project include a recreation and practice room for the performers and a large multi-purpose conference room, which Curren hopes to allow University groups to utilize.

WXPN hopes to begin construction this winter and to complete the project by late 2003.

The current WXPN location at 3905 Spruce Street, one of the last historic homes left on Superblock, will be returned to the University after the radio station moves to its new location.

Carl Dranoff, president of Dranoff Properties, notably of The Left Bank apartment complex, is also working on the WXPN project. Dranoff will additionally renovate the 3905 Spruce location, although Curren said that the University does not at this time have any plans for the current WXPN studio.

“This is a beautiful building,” Curren said. “It could be another student center, another Kelly Writers House or something.”

“The University is very excited about the property,” he added.

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