PHILADELPHIA | EVO @ Cira Centre South | 407 FT | 33 FLRS | U/C

[SEPTATank]

I think Winxs is right. From what I've heard its the Post Office rehab and parking garage first. The parking is much needed even without the thousands of I.R.S. employees (this coming from a guy who doesn't own a car) and the rehab is a great thing, using a great building and bringing thousands of jobs downtown. I wish they would keep the beautiful 1930s 24 hour post office though. These towers are going to happen but it will be a few years. Patience.

[dadschicken]

http://www.pennconnects.upenn.edu/find_a...ction_a_to_f/cira_centre_south_press.php

The post office conversion and construction of a 2,400-space parking garage will be the $365 million first phase of the project, to be completed by 2010. The office and residential towers will follow, to be completed by 2012 at a cost of about $400 million. The university has agreed to lease 100,000 square feet of the office tower's 400,000 to 500,000 square feet.

Do not expect either tower to start rising for some time. The annex and the parking garage are the 1st order of business.

[cubanChris]

Yea, that article is from August 31, 2007 - That same page has the whole complex completion date at 2011 though. If you read through these pages you'll find the speculative completion goes back and forth quite a bit.

Regardless of what date you choose to believe in, it will be a solid year-year and a half before we start to see real tower progress. That being said, the post office is a gem of the city and along with 30th street station will be a wonderful contrast to the various glass spikes coming out of the ground (cira 1, now cira 2 + what I'd assume to be a safe bet in the hotel @ Drexel once they choose a design) - its going to really change that whole area.

If anyone hasn't already, I'd have a look through penn's different phases of its campus plans... Everyone mentions the fields to the south, which are nice, but there are also a few images of putting some paver stone and green across market st (the whole street b/t the PO and 30th st station).

Exciting stuff, albeit with more than a handful of patience =)

[winxs]

CubanChris, from what our relocation committee was told (I work for the IRS), parts of the STATION SQUARE streescape and traffic improvement plan will be addressed during the Post Office rehab. Officials want to have that area cleaned up and ready to rock for the Grand Opening of the new IRS center in 2010. Whomever is our new president is slated to be there for the re-dedication of the building. This is actually a pretty big deal for the Feds. This is only the second time a major IRS facility (outside of DC) has relocated in like 30 years; the first being Kansas City last year. They also consolidated their folks into a main downtown postal facility similar to 30th St.

[cubanChris]

Wow Winx, glad someone 'in the know' browsed my post. Good to hear that those renovations and improvements will come along sooner than I had first suspected. Minor landscaping and refurbishment of that area (along with the influx of IRS employees) will do wonders to liven it up and make it more pedestrian life.

I know the grease trucks bring some people out for a bite but I always found the area to be a bit of a concrete desert. It's an state/interstate hub for travel, it has no reason not to be teeming with activity.

Now if someone could only knock down the Drexel Shaft in the dark of night, we'd really be on to something... =)

[theWatusi]

Originally Posted by cubanChris

Now if someone could only knock down the Drexel Shaft in the dark of night, we'd really be on to something... =)

Are you talking about the smokestack of the former PRR steam plant?

[cubanChris]

yeeeep.

[tua21506]

Walked by the site today, but didn't have my camera....Anyway the demo is almost complete I think. The building is completely demolished to the street level and they are starting to demo down to the actual ground level...it would be worth someones while to go take a pic or two....I hope they start at least building the parking tower soon....I wanna see this go into the construction forum....

[cubanChris]

I went by the site recently too. I didnt happen to take any pictures, my apologies there.

But I can tell you, if you are familiar with the wooden boards going up around the perimeter, they have now gone and I caught a glimpse of the various debris on ground level next to the interstate. Can't claim to be an engineer, but I would imagine there will be a lot of prep work before the garage, and eventually the towers get off the ground.

Still, I love the walnut street tower's crown and overall design - I do hope this goes through and some speed is taken up by Nutts for BPT/Wage Tax decreases for increased corporate attraction -> more jobs -> better economy -> gentrified city -> more cool buildings for me to take pictures of =)

[theWatusi]

Originally Posted by cubanChris

yeeeep.

why tear it down? it's out in the middle of the rail yard and not in the way of anything.

[winxs]

Originally Posted by theWatusi

why tear it down? it's out in the middle of the rail yard and not in the way of anything.

Actually, I think it is kinda cool.

[cubanChris]

Originally Posted by theWatusi

why tear it down? it's out in the middle of the rail yard and not in the way of anything.

I was only saying so in jest - it's a physical manifestation of the inferiority complex commonly cited by Drexel students is all =)

If the location made more sense i'd be more apt to say do what the Tate Modern did in London and trick it out into a retro-cool museum

[theWatusi]

Originally Posted by winxs

Actually, I think it is kinda cool.

agreed. As a train nerd, I actually like it a lot.

[wally]

From the Daily News...

Monday, June 9, 2008

Cira Centre South Project Moves Forward

The Cira Centre South, a proposed office tower near the Cira Centre next to 30th Street Station along the western banks of the Schuylkill River, took a step forward today with support from City Council's Committee on Finance to extend tax benefits for developers by seven years. The committee voted to support legislation that would extend the Keystone Opportunity Zone benefits to 2025. That move needs approval in Harrisburg.

Mayor Nutter supports the plan. "It's an incredible opportunity for the city to bring net new jobs to Philadelphia," Nutter said of the committee's vote. "We're going to do our part. Hopefully the state will take action as well."

Two Center City landlords sent a letter to Council, objecting to the extension of the KOZ, but did not testify during yesterday's hearing against the plan. Some Center City landlords previously objected to granting KOZ benefits to the Cira Centre. Both projects are being overseen by the Brandywine Realty Trust.

City Councilman Jim Kenney took note of the lack of opposition at the hearing, saying that in previous years it could have easily turned into a "day-long embarrassment" with people protesting the project. Kenney recalled the tone of opposition to the Cira Centre legislation. "We don't have the sky is falling complaints in here today that we had then," Kenney said.

Posted by Chris Brennan @ 3:54 PM Permalink | Post a comment

[cubanChris]

Great Update Wally-

I actually just was channel surfing and caught some construction shots on local fox nightly newscast and was pleasantly surprised to a little update outlining much of what you just posted.

In addition to what you posted though, the report had video from City Council meetings with one of the heads of BlackRock (reporting them to have a portfolio of nearly $1 Trillion) who stated that without a 7 year extension to the KOZ tax breaks, Philadelphia would not be a viable option.

This was prefaced by their desire to anchor approximate 1100 employees in Philadelphia, specifically, Cira South. They then showed a bit of the Council's chatter summarizing that the tax break was a GO (as Wally said earlier). The reporter on the story then commented that the BlackRock fellow was very satisfied =)

EDIT: Found the Article On Fox's Site now. Here you go:

New Jobs, Expanded Skyline Coming To Philadelphia
Last Edited: Monday, 09 Jun 2008, 6:17 PM EDT
Created: Monday, 09 Jun 2008, 6:17 PM EDT
WTXF-Fox 29
SideBar

Related Items
Videos

Eleven hundred brand new, high-paying jobs may be a step closer to Philadelphia. A City Council Committee on Monday approved extended tax breaks that may bring BlackRock, Inc., to a new office complex in West Philadelphia.

For now, the work at 30th Street and Walnut is mostly below ground. But several years down the road, the complex to be known as Cira-South will reach the sky, and will be home to lots of highly paid workers--new workers--courtesy of tax breaks offered by city lawmakers.

Jerry Sweeney, of Brandywine Realty Trust, says the breaks give cities a leg up , when competing for new jobs. "These tax incentives plans were identified to very specifically target undeveloped parts of the city to attract businesses to locate to," says Sweeney, "and remove the barriers of entry, by (temporarily) eliminating the...tax burden."

BlackRock- an international asset management firm with a trillion dollar portfolio- is looking to anchor an office tower at Cira-South- and staff it with eleven hundred employees.

But BlackRock wants city and state tax breaks to be extended an extra seven years to offset Philadelphia's high business taxes.

The company's managing director, Tom Callan, told City Council's Finance Committee: no extra tax breaks, no move to Philly.

"Without the extension," Callan told members bluntly, "this will not be a viable option for BlackRock."

Committee members got the message, agreeing to extend the incentives. Approval by the full council- and an okay from the state legislature- is expected to come soon.

To the relief of Callan and the district's council person-Jannie Blackwell. "I appreciate all the other areas," said Blackwell, "but west is the place to be. West is the best!"

BlackRock has a small presence in original Cira Centre. When it opened- just north of 30th Street Station- in 2005, there was concern that incentives would draw companies and their workers to West Philly, from Center City office towers--stealing from Peter to help Paul.

But this legislation is tailored to help only those firms that bring a net increase of workers.

"This is exactly the kind of opportunity that these benefits are designed for- it's new jobs for the city, which is very important," says City Commerce Director Andrew Altman.

If all goes according to plan, Cira-South will be ready to accept its new tenants- including those brand new BlackRock workers- by late 2011, or early 2012.

For West Philadelphia, it's a continuation of the first commercial building boom in decades. And proof that, in business, "if you build it (and cut the taxes)...they will come."

Written For MyFox By Bruce Gordon

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6730097&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

And Video can be found there

[Palms]

Here it is

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/myfox/MyFox/p...contentId=6729827&version=1&locale=EN-US

[pwp]

That's such welcome news seeing how there's been a drought recently. Now if only we can entice TD...

[Castle]

Anyone notice in that MyFox video that the design for Cira South has changed considerably? According to the renderings on that report, the taller of the two towers now appears to be situated on the Chestnut Street side of the complex. The design of that tower has changed. .. looks a bit more like the original Cira, maybe slightly taller. The smaller tower, is now situated on the Walnut Street side. Hmmm. I preferred the original design of the overall project.

[Jes44]

I too noticed the design change, its nice, but not as nice as the original design when it was first unveiled in the Philadelphia Inquirer many months ago. Anyone have any inside connections to see whether the tax breaks will be approved before the state legistature breaks for the summer? I would assume it would pass without much opposition to it. This is a great accomplishment for Mayor Nutter, more than Street accomplished in his entire 8 year term. Only thing John Street did a great job was sitting on the street waiting to get his IPhone...Wonder if he will sit in line again for the next IPhone...

[The A Train]

I think that the design change is fantastic. I thought that the old design was similiar enough to Cira 1 that the differences actually made them clash, whereas this new design will work perfectly with the existing structure.