Since Universal’s inception, Universal has solidified a leadership role in the South Philadelphia community by creating community partnerships and alliances. Universal recently formed SPEED (South Philadelphia for Employment and Economic Development), another collaborative effort to develop a comprehensive workforce strategy tied to economic development. There are many other activities in pre-development.
Universal continues to work on the development of the Universal Entertainment Complex; this project, which includes a three screen movie theater, a three-hundred room hotel, an African American Museum, a twenty-five hundred seat live theater, a parking lot, two theme restaurants, a Gospel Hall of Fame, and retail shops, will be built on a nine acre site. Pre-development activities are scheduled to be completed in May 2000; and a Universal continues to work on a comprehensive, strategic plan that will focus on: developing corporate goals and capacity building; evaluating new opportunities in view of the community and surrounding resources; and creating a strategy to develop funding sources to achieve strategic objectives.
