2023: A Year in Review

2023 marked our 13^th year of working to make King of Prussia more vibrant, attractive and prosperous.

While many find the number “13” unlucky, we at the District consider ourselves very lucky to have the ongoing support of the KOP community and businesses. With an incredible foundation of partners in the region, we’ve had a very successful year, pushing many projects forward, introducing new events and laying out plans for a successful future. We even managed to break some records when it comes to our charitable giving events.

Here are some of the accomplishments that we are most proud of this year:

Marketing & Events:

• We continued to improve visitkop.com, after implementing a full redesign in 2022. The big focus this year was our blog. We added new tagging features to make articles easily searchable, debuted a new Now Open series, introduced new lifestyle articles (like this timely one on freeze-proof fun for families!) and continued to add to our roster of KOP Insiders.
• The District, and its businesses, were at the center of plenty of great press coverage, including this article from the Philadelphia Business Journal in August. Positive coverage seems harder and harder to come by these days, but thankfully King of Prussia continues to buck that trend.
• We introduced Network@Nite, an event series that combines informal networking with unique KOP experiences. From cocktail and BBQ pairings with Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue and BOTLD, to taco tasting with 10 restaurants at Valley Beach to a winetasting with Seasons 52 after a guided walk with Valley Forge Park Alliance, we brought a new experiential twist to our networking events.
• In May, over 2,100 people joined us for Block Party for CHOP at King of Prussia Town Center, a brand-new signature event that closed out our KOP Restaurant Week and KOP Shops for CHOP campaign. Thanks to the generosity of the business community and the patrons of the 31 restaurants and 24 retailers that participated this year, we raised a record $76,187 for CHOP King of Prussia (a 10% increase from 2022), bringing our grand total to $366,311 over 9 years.
• We kept the business parks and other corporate centers lively throughout the year, hosting 6 Food Truck Tuesdays, 6 King of Prussia District Beehive workshops and activations, 4 Wellness Wednesday pop up workouts, 4 Pop-Up Cafés, 1 Ping-Pong Tournament and 1 fun-spirited Cupcake 2K walk along the Linear Park.
• Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we served 250+ meals to UMT’s bravest men and women during First Responders Appreciation Week and presented a check for $1,983.04 to the Department of Public Safety.
• While we still have a few events to go (like our holiday reception at Topgolf!), we rounded out the year with a bang, hosting our most successful food drive yet. Co-produced with Conlin’s Print, KOP Takes Out Hunger featured 34 donation boxes across KOP all collecting for Upper Merion Area Community Cupboard (UMACC). Together we collected 3,135+ lbs of food! To raise much needed funds for the food pantry, the District once again hosted our popular Igloo Garden on the Green dining experience in KOP Town Center. In one week, 1,009 guests enjoyed takeout in our cozy, heated igloos, helping us to raise an incredible $24,340 for UMACC!
• We exceeded nearly all corporate sponsorship goals this year! We would like to thank all event sponsors, but especially our Presenting Sponsors: Business Networking: Riley Riper Hollin & Colagreco; King of Prussia Restaurant Week & KOP Shops for CHOP: SERVPRO of KOP; Food Truck Tuesdays: Budget Emergency Services; First Responders Appreciation Week & KOP Takes Out Hunger: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Physical Improvement & Transportation Projects

• King of Prussia District creates and maintains exciting amenities, trails and vibrant landscapes that improve the appearance and accessibility of our most heavily traveled commercial corridors. Since 2011, we’ve installed 44 landscape projects covering nearly 7 acres and nearly 2 miles of multimodal trails.
• Construction on Phase Two of the First Avenue Linear Park was completed in the fall. The addition of an asphalt multimodal trail, concrete curb ramps and a precast concrete boardwalk along 5 parcels creates a continuous path from North Gulph Road to Allendale Road.
• The contract to construct Phase Three of the First Avenue Linear Park was awarded in December after final designs and a competitive bid process. This phase will add new solar-powered pedestrian lights and bollards to the remaining sections of the multimodal trail in spring 2024. King of Prussia District, in partnership with Upper Merion Township, was awarded a MONTCO 2040 Vision Implementation Grant and a Multimodal Transportation Fund grant from the Commonwealth Finance Authority for constructing this phase.
• Informed by the Renaissance Park Stakeholder Engagement Study, King of Prussia District hired D2 Group to create exterior sign design guidelines and a master plan. The results outline a hierarchy of gateway and wayfinding signs that incorporate a new brand for Renaissance Park. Three gateway signs were installed at the beginning of 2023, with 22 directional signs to follow in January 2024.
• King of Prussia District and Simone Collins presented the Moore Road Multimodal Trail and Linear Park Study to the Upper Merion Board of Supervisors, impacted property owners and area stakeholders at the beginning of 2023. The study illustrated a proposed pedestrian and bike trail stretching from First Avenue to the Schuylkill River Trail West (SRTW), including amenities such as seating areas, pedestrian lighting and vibrant landscaping. The project team is now applying for grant funding to design and construct this important transportation improvement.
• The Renaissance Park Connectivity Study is underway! King of Prussia District engaged Simone Collins Landscape Architecture and Traffic Planning and Design to lead the study and gather ideas about future pedestrian improvements and amenities including connections between Renaissance Park properties, public transportation and surrounding neighborhoods. After completing a series of public meetings over the summer, the initial draft will be presented this December.

Land Use & Zoning

• King of Prussia District worked with Upper Merion Township on several proposed ordinance changes in 2023. Our advocacy work helped protect development rights and ensure that our stakeholders’ voices were heard.

Organizational

• King of Prussia District’s Board, Committees and Staff participated in a process to develop the organization’s 2024-2029 Strategic Plan. Stay tuned for more on our exciting future!
• Rachel Ammon, King of Prussia District’s Director of Marketing & Communications, was selected to be one of 30 participants in the International Downtown Association’s Emerging Leadership Program. The immersive week-long program in New York City brought together professionals from 25 cities across the country to learn essential leadership and place management skills.