The most ambitious design comes from an out-of-towner, Atlantis New York Group, headed by Harry Eng, and carries a $3 billion price tag. The developer says it will be financed with private funds and provides confirmation letters from potential contributors.

The Atlantis plan literally overcomes what has long been seen as a barrier to development: I 95. The design nearly doubles the size of Penn's Landing by covering the Interstate that separates the riverfront from Center City. It calls for residential condos, a Minskoff theater, enclosed gardens, educational and entertainment venues and large areas of open space.

Locally based Keating Development offers a site primarily devoted to entertainment with a Ferris wheel, patterned after the one in London, at its core. It includes a refurbished Great Plaza at which outdoor concerts now take place, an indoor water park and a new hotel adjacent Keating's existing Hyatt. The price tag is estimated at $104.2 million and calls for loans from Penn's Landing Corp. plus funding from the state's department of transportation.

Locally based Tower Investments Inc.'s plan calls for a mix of restaurants, retail, residential and office space along with open areas and an outdoor amphitheater. The estimated $318 million cost would come from a variety of private and public sources.

Plymouth Meeting, PA-based Brandywine Realty Trust presents a mixed-use development designed by architect Cesar Pelli, best known for the world's tallest building, Petronas Tower in Kuala Lumpur. While the contents of Brandywine's plan parallel the components of Tower's plan, this is a contemporary design that makes generous use of steel and glass in contrast to Tower's old-world, European piazza design. Financing details are undisclosed.

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Public Previews Four Competing Versions of Penn's Landing

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