Philadelphia seems to have found its new developer-statesman in Brandywine Realty Trust CEO Gerard Sweeney, who is expanding the city through a number of projects, writes Jacob Adelman for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Our office buildings are only as strong and only as valuable as the economy in which they are built,” Sweeney said. “We’ve been battling every day to sell the Philadelphia story.”

Sweeney, who lives on a 15-acre former farm in Chester County, will soon be inducted into the Inquirer Business Hall of Fame.

Raised in Drexel Hill, Sweeney’s young adulthood began with him being expelled from Monsignor Bonner High School. He graduated from Upper Darby High School and later from West Chester University, where he earned an economics degree.

Brandywine Realty Trust’s newest project, Schuylkill Yards, located between Drexel University and 30th Street Station, aims to “redefine a part of a city” and “create a brand-new neighborhood,” said Sweeney.

Read more about Gerard Sweeney in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.