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And one other thing for new viewers. An outside facing set of glass elevators rising to the Four Seasons Lobby and lounge on the top floor of the building - believe will be the tallest glass outside facing elevators in the US - cant wait to ride and grab a drink - if only thi would rise faster...

Well, well, well. Scope out your angles now folks.

Those of us who were here during the rise of Comcast Center were just as enthused. I think that I may mingle photos of this building rising with some old photos of the first one going up.

Outdoor elevators are really awesome. I remember going up the elevators of the Bonaventure hotel in LA when I was younger. I would go up and down over and over again. It was just like a free roller coaster. I wonder if the outside elevators on this building will become a tourist attraction, and also if visitors will be able to go up them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kidphilly (Post 6755090)

Comcast has expanded the amount of space that it will occupy. The cable giant signed a 20-years lease on 982,275 square feet, or about 74 percent of the 1.33-million-square-foot building. It had initially taken 957,000 square feet.

^ I wonder if they would add a couple of floors for that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plokoon11 (Post 6755541)

^ I wonder if they would add a couple of floors for that?

I'd love to see the actual roof reach or exceed the height of Comcast I.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsbrook (Post 6755544)

I'd love to see the actual roof reach or exceed the height of Comcast I.

Maybe someone with more knowledge/experience can clarify a few things for me regarding this issue. So once a building has cleared all zoning/design reviews and is given the big OK to begin with construction, if the developer than wants to change plans (such as a height increase), do they then need to submit another application and go through another round of approvals?

1800 Arch is clearly CMX-5 zoned... no height restrictions or anything.
I understand any change to a plan - from a construction/engineering point of view changes things mathematically and cost wise.

But from a zoning board perspective - what occurs, if anything? for a height increase for a pre-approved, already under construction building in a CMX-5 zoned area? (sorry should've asked this in a law school class for zoning or something).

Quote:

Originally Posted by SJPhillyBoy (Post 6755071)

For those of you just joining us, large renderings can be found here:

http://corporate.comcast.com/news-in...-press-release

Source:
http://corporate.comcast.com/images/...-1-15-2014.pdf

The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center
The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center will be a $1.2 billion world-class, state-of-the-art facility along the 1800 block of Arch Street. It will complement Comcast Corporation’s global headquarters, the Comcast Center, and expand the Comcast vertical campus in Center City.

Location
•1800 Arch Street Developer
•Liberty Property Trust Owner
•A joint venture between Comcast Corporation and Liberty Property Trust

Design Architect
•Lord Norman Foster, Foster + Partners Architect of Record
•Kendall/Heaton Associates, Inc.

General Contractor
•L.F. Driscoll Co.

Development
•1,121 feet tall
•59-story tower
•Approximately 1.517 million rentable square feet, including 1.285 million rentable square feet of office space, 230,112 square feet of hotel space, and 2,682 rentable square feet of retail space
•Featuring 200+ room luxury Four Seasons hotel with world-class spa, fitness, event and meeting facilities
•Exciting new restaurant located on the top floor of the building, offering spectacular 360 degree of the city
•Media center in the heart of the City, featuring the studio and office operations of NBC 10/WCAU and Telemundo 62/WWSI
•State-of-the-art incubator space for local technology start ups
•Creation of an extended commuter concourse connected underground to Comcast Center and Suburban Station
•Constructed of stainless steel and glass façade
•Designed to attain LEED® Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council
•Comparable rental rates to existing Trophy Class buildings in Philadelphia, including the Comcast Center

Timeline
•Ground breaking anticipated Summer 2014
•Project completion anticipated Q4 2017

Total Project Cost
•$1.2 billion in total
•$40 million in Commonwealth and City support to defray the cost of public infrastructure improvements. No government dollars will be used to support the office and hotel components of this project.

[/QUOTE]

This information should be in the first post of this thread. Can someone tell The Watutsi to update it? Better yet, is it possible to transfer the ownership of the thread to someone who participates at a reasonable level, and is at least somewhat active with updates?

No offense Watutsi. You're a long time member and are excited about development, but when it comes to managing a thread, especially one as important as this, you haven't put in the time or effort.

Thanks
:tup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallCoolOne (Post 6755564)

From my understanding aren't buildings for the most part designed to be overkill? Maybe they designed the building in the case of expansion to be able to handle a few more floors right? If they were to add 2 floors to the top and move everything up by 20 feet, it would be a tiny bit taller then the roof of the CC tower, or equal I think which will make the core part stick out a tiny bit taller. Heres dreaming haha.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallCoolOne (Post 6755564)

Not sure of the answer. Hopefully someone with knowledge will jump in. But it seems to me they would account for some level of variation when getting zoning approval to avoid having to resubmit if the design changes within certain defined limits.

Posted some updates today on the building philly Facebook page.

^^ Update from Lincolndrive.

Here is the money shot
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...40&oe=54B44566

More photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/BuildingPhi...ation=timeline

Great shots from Lincoln Drive! I noticed they were working today in the rain as well.

Oh yeah do you guys think the site prep went by fast? It might be the fastest I've seen in a while. Seemed like 2 1/2 months.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plokoon11 (Post 6755582)

I wouldn't say that buildings are designed to be "overkill." There are safety factors that are designed for, so that loads in excess of those anticipated by usual conditions can be accommodated up to a certain point, such as high winds / hurricane loads that are not usually seen around here but could be handled. But these factors are not usually enough to accommodate additional floors because those are permanent loads, not just occasional ones. More than likely (although I don't know for sure if they anticipated this) they would have to redesign the whole building if they decided to add 2 floors.

If they were going to add floors, it would likely be in multiples of 3, since the commercial portion of the tower is comprised of 3-story atria.

But I don't see that happening. I don't think Comcast *wants* any occupied portion of the CITC to be "looking down" on the corporate HQ offices at the top of the Comcast Center.

And on that note, Kidphilly's comment at the bottom of the last page that there will be a "1,000+ foot high lounge with 360 degree views" is slightly wishful thinking: the ROOF of that space tops out at 911 feet, so anyone standing at any level of the sky lounge will "only" be at the 800-foot range. It's all cooling tower from 911 to 996 feet, and the blade extends from 996 to 1,121 ft.

Unless the design changes. ;)

Wow. This is an impressive structure. I think its about time such a great city make this kind of progress.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Late1 (Post 6755792)

Actually. The lobby for the hotel will be on the top floor (59th floor) of the building and will have a rooftop lounge/bar and restaurant. Visitors to the hotel will go up to the top floor, check in, and then go down to their rooms from there.

Because of this, I believe the highest views will be at about the 900 foot range.

I believe its at 910, or 900 feet at the restaurant level. Technically it will be the highest publicly accessed floor, because the 1st comcast crown is not open for anyone to go into.

I wish, but don't think so. Look at the actual Liberty/Comcast/Foster documents (lifted from the upthread PDF):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...psa11759d2.png

The roof is 911'. If the top "floor" is the last black horizontal line before you reach the trees in the Sky Garden, then the public's vantage point may reach about 850', but it won't reach 900'.

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