Philadelphia Tribune Staff Writer
The move by the African American Museum of Philadelphia to the Ben Franklin Parkway will place it close to some of the city’s most-visited cultural attractions such as the Art Museum and the Franklin Institute, its board chair told The Tribune on Thursday.
“They are destination places for Philadelphians and those that visit, so we are excited about the new traffic that we are anticipating in that space,” said Sabrina M. Brooks. “We are excited that we will be in a brand new home, a new development that will give visitors that embark on Philadelphia another place to visit that will focus on Black excellence and our Black community.”
The city announced this week that National Real Estate Development in Philadelphia and Frontier Development and Hospitality Group of Washington D.C. will redevelop the 247,000-square-foot building that previously housed the historical Family Court Building at 1801 Vine St.
Evens Charles is the founder and managing principal of Frontier Development and Hospitality Group. He’s a graduate of Temple University, where he played football.
Last year, the African American Museum of Philadelphia said it would relocate from Seventh and Arch streets to an 88,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility at the new site.
The development will also include a 60,000-square-foot children and family center, auditorium, storage and administrative offices for the Parkway Central Library, as well as a boutique hotel with a restaurant, bar and about 200 rooms.
The development is expected to be completed in 2028. The Tribune reached out to both companies for comment, but neither responded.
The new space, Brooks said, will be much larger than the museum’s current space, which will translate into more places for community engagement. “We want to have places to converge to have more meaningful discussions for the Philadelphia community,” she said.
“We will be able to have more world-class exhibition space,” Brooks said. “It will include ample art gallery space for blockbuster exhibitions, for dedicated learning and educational programs. We will be able to have storage for our growing collection of artwork, photographs and collectibles.”
According to Frontier Development’s website, the company has built up a multimillion-dollar portfolio of Hilton and Marriott-branded hotels in several states. In 2019, the company was recognized by Black Enterprise as one of the largest 100 Black-owned businesses in the U.S.
Mayor Jim Kenney said the city of Philadelphia was the first city to finance the African American Museum about 50 years ago.
“As we approach the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding in 2026, our announcement of a new home for the African American Museum in Philadelphia is a reaffirmation of our city’s commitment to supporting and uplifting the museum’s mission,” Kenney said. “The redevelopment of this historic building to house AAMP marks a significant moment in the life of our city and its most celebrated cultural thoroughfare, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.”
Previously, the building at 18th and Vine was home to the Family Division of the Court of Common Pleas of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. It was constructed in 1941. The Family Court Building and the Free Library of Philadelphia was built in 1927. The Family Court Building’s exterior and a portion of its interior, including more than 30 murals, are listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.
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