Market East Station to be renamed Jefferson Station

Market East Station, the 30-year-old subterranean commuter rail hub beneath Center City, will be renamed Jefferson Station in a multimillion-dollar deal between SEPTA and Jefferson Health System.

SEPTA, Jefferson, and city officials will unveil new signs Thursday at a news conference in the station.

The deal will mean millions of dollars for SEPTA and increased public exposure for Jefferson, whose Thomas Jefferson University Hospital complex is just two blocks south of the station.

SEPTA and Jefferson officials declined to divulge specifics of the deal Tuesday.

The prospective deal was first reported by the website Technical.ly Philly.

In a similar deal in 2010, SEPTA sold the naming rights for Pattison Station on the Broad Street Subway, rechristening it AT&T Station. That five-year deal cost AT&T $5.4 million, of which SEPTA received $3.4 and its advertising agent, New York-based Titan Worldwide, got $2 million.

Also, SEPTA has been reported to be in discussions to sell the naming rights to nearby Suburban Station, perhaps to Verizon or Comcast.

Market East Station opened in November 1984 as part of the underground Center City Commuter Connection built to connect the separate rail networks formerly operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad.

Market East replaced the aboveground Reading Terminal station, which is now part of the Convention Center.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to include a link to the Technical.ly Philly story.

@nussbaumpaul