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Originally Posted by iheartphilly
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I think the Navy Yard has 7.5 million square foot of office space occupied. That's part of Philly. Imagine if that was not an option, then that 7.5 million square foot would net 6-12 mid-rise to highrise buildings in center city. So to say Philly isn't attracting new business doesn't make sense. Also, Comcast is expanding with CTC and a 3rd highrise is in the works. If Comcast can do it, why can't a new large corporation do it here too. Taxes can't be the reason. I think when taxes comes up as an argument to the lack of growth, the argument is overly simplified. Sure, we might see more growth if we were more tax friendly, but to say taxes prevents a small, medium or large business from establish a HQ or major operations here is not convincing. Our suburban counties are attractive options for many employers too, so we have competition with them as well. But, I think the type of growth we want has to do more with innovating and monetizing what we innovate. If Philly can start and/or continuing that now and into the future, I see the momentum will shift in our favor.
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My point is, of the companies that *are* coming here, how many cite our proximity to NY&DC as the prime reason for doing so? I haven't heard many. clearly they have their reasons for doing so, and that's great. But we should be leveraging those qualities so that more companies will come here not for the proximity but for the city of Philadelphia and what it has to offer. Taxes are part of the reason, but not the entire reason, as you state. It's always a good place to start though, when looking for ways to incentivize people and companies to locate here.