PHILADELPHIA | Mellon Independence Center Tower | 429 FT | 35 FLOORS
 

Location: 700 Block of Market Street (addition to Litt Bros. Building)
Height: 429 ft (131 m)
Floors: 35 above street level (existing 5 + 30 new)
Use:

• Office 110,741 ft^2
• Retail 9,839 ft^2
• Residential 360171 ft^2 (342 units)
• Parking: 0 spaces :)

Developer: Independence Center Realty L.P.
Architect: Stantec Architecture Inc.

http://philadelphiaheights.files.wor...ng?w=640&h=640
NEW Rendering from philadelphiaheights
http://philadelphiaheights.wordpress...o-market-east/

http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-conten...01-660x595.jpg
OLD Rendering of MIC Tower by Stantec Architecture, via Philadelphia Historical Commission
http://hiddencityphila.org/2014/02/l...tories-taller/

Location: 700 Block of Market Street

It is not 100% clear from the article, but it looks like this will be 30 stories above the current 5 story Litt Bros. building so that we will have 5 floors of office/retail and another 29 to 30 floors of residential.

And the DallHouTorAtblandafication of Philadelphia continues. Joy.

Back to the drawing boards . No more cookie cutter junk for Philadelphia. Why not just add 30 stories to that amazing 5 story facade

Yeah, I'm not too keen on the design either, especially given the gorgeous building it is building off of. On the plus side, 5 floors of office space and another 29 or so of residential will be a great density boost for 8th and Market. It also sounds like they only be making minimal changes to the existing building. This goes through the Historical Commission next week so there may be significant changes to the design.

The height for Market East is great! The design needs something...anything...to spruce it up. But from the quote below, it doesn't seem very likely.

"Carefully crafted by New York’s Stantec Architecture to defer to the existing Lit Brothers structure, the tower would be set back 180′ from Seventh, Market, and Eighth Streets; its façade would primarily consist of white and gray hues, to intentionally not distract from the Lits complex."
http://hiddencityphila.org/2014/02/l...tories-taller/

If you ran one of those watercolor photoshop filters, removed the cars and showed me this rendering with no other information I would have thought it was a proposal from 1970. Not even kidding.

I think the goal was to NOT draw attention away from the gorgeous structure from which it emerges, and in general, modern building materials can't match the original materials used for historic building.

I think they succeeded with their goal but only because the design is so bland an innocuous.

Placing the structure at the back of the existing building further separates it from the building.

Altogether I'm happy to see the height and street level activity come to Market East and hope that future developments offer more for the eyes than this one.

*looks at design*

Oh.

It will at to the skyline and the resurgence of Market East! I'm all for it. Sure the design could use some work, but it will bring so much to this part of Center City, so I won't complain :cheers:

More renderings

http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-conten...ictower_03.jpg

http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-conten...ictower_02.jpg

http://hiddencityphila.org/2014/02/l...tories-taller/

Curbed Philly has more on the MIC Tower…

The Lits Building, the ornate white building on the 700 block of Market Street, may become a host for a 30 story growth to be known as the Mellon Independence Center Tower. The new residential tower would include a basement lobby, street level retail, and 29 floors of apartments.

http://philly.curbed.com/archives/20...s-building.php

Ouch... density and mixed use good, design brutal.

Its a good filler, I'd expect nothing less. Not all towers are going to be flashy and innovative. This will pave the path for more development around that area. Soon in the distant future there will be trophy towers engulfing that area and blocking this most likely.

I like it. Yeah the skyscraper portion is dull but it doesn't take away from the gorgeous LIT building. This is almost like hidden density.

I agree. Every tower does not need to be flashy and fancy. Keep filling the skyline towards the Delaware.

Were those renderings scanned from a newspaper in 1992? bleh

:previous: I think we can all agree that the best part of this proposal is their plan to move 2 Liberty Place to South Philly.

Or, maybe it's a new 900 ft proposal no one knows about yet lol.

All kidding aside, the building looks interesting for a box.

Yes, with a design from 1965.

Yeah, the 1960's called; they want their design back. lol Seriously, this looks like the old Genesee Towers in Flint (recently demolished) on steroids.

I'm with you guys here. Obviously I'd prefer if it was more interesting or detailed, but anything that extends the skyline towards the Delaware is a good thing, and plain buildings like this can serve to enhance even mediocre designs, as even an only moderately-interesting building will stand out and look good next to something like this.

To put it another way, it's like wrestling back in the '80s. You can't have all awesome stars battling each other - they'd always win and lose half the time. You need jobbers in there to make the stars look good. This building is like the Barry Horowitz of Philadelphia. Every city needs a Barry Horowitz.