PHILADELPHIA | American Commerce Center | 1,510' Pinnacle / 1,210' Roof | 63 FLOORS

[THE BIG APPLE]

This will be the greatest thing that has happened to Philadelphia since the Comcast Center.

[americanskyscraper22]

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

This will be the greatest thing that has happened to Philadelphia since the Comcast Center.

this will be twice as good as the comcast center

[THE BIG APPLE]

Originally Posted by americanskyscraper22

this will be twice as good as the comcast center

Yeah it will be, but to me the Comcast Center has a little better design. Overall great tower.

[StevenW]

I like the design. I love the bottom portion the best, though. Awesome.

[max1979]

If this new building is built, do you think you will be able to see the Empire State Building lights at night from the top of on a very clear night?

[THE BIG APPLE]

Originally Posted by max1979

If this new building is built, do you think you will be able to see the Empire State Building lights at night from the top of on a very clear night?

I don't think so. ESB is 83 miles from the building site. The farthest you'll see is Princeton, NJ.

[max1979]

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

I don't think so. ESB is 83 miles from the building site. The farthest you'll see is Princeton, NJ.

You see, I was thinking 83 miles may be possible from the top of each skyscraper, i.e. if you can see 50 miles from the ESB and let's say 40 miles from 1200' of the new Philadelphia building, it seems that you could possibly combine the distance if you did it from the top of each to the other (i.e. if both buildings could be seen from Princeton, NJ)? I do not know what the elevations are between the sites. I believe if they build this building, that you will be able to see the top lights of the ESB from the roof of the American Commerce Center given a very clear night. This link I found shows the approximate line of sight (except from the Comcast Center): http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&h...29,-74.564209&spn=0.794949,1.785278&z=10. It seems elevation does not get much over 200 feet in between the sites.

[volguus zildrohar]

You really wouldn't be able to see either building from either end - distance, Earth's curvature maybe. Possibly one from Princeton.

[wanderer34]

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

Yeah it will be, but to me the Comcast Center has a little better design. Overall great tower.

I beg to differ!!! And it has nothing to do with height, but I feel that the ACC is the total package of all the Philly skyscrapers, including Liberty Place!!!

[THE BIG APPLE]

The Earth is round not flat. We'll see if we could see the ESB if this gets built.

^^^It's a great skyscraper. I just think the Comcast has more lines and better design. ACC will just be like the cherry on the amazing sundae.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by Aleks

At first I thought this building was okay but I really don't like it now. Yes, it does look like the Freedom Tower, I won't say it doesn't. But other than that I think it's too plain and it isn't classy/graceful. Especially for a city like Philly.

I never had an opinion on this building, I never cared for it. But now I really dislike it as well. It is so plain, I mean god awful boring. It's not HORRIBLE but it could defiantly use some improvements. 63 floors and will be "taller" than the Sears Tower, ridiculous.

[Ninjawho]

Are you serious? how many times do we have to hear about how "plain" and "boring" ACC is. HELLO. THIS IS A PRELIMINARY DESIGN. It's not going to look like this. Heck, it might get majorly downsized...its always nice when people follow the history in the thread they're posting in. Saves bandwidth.

[We Got Five]

Just an FYI - last week's PBJ contained an insert that had a short article on ACC's potential tenants. GSK is still eyeing 900,000 sf (or more), but Janney Montgomery Scott, Marsh McClennan and KPMG are thought to be seeking space as well. I have several close ties to KPMG and they are indeed looking for a larger block of space...they plan to grow their Philadelphia operation significantly over the next 3-4 years. They are also looking into a refitted space at 20th and Market. The article also mentioned that Wells Fargo may grow operations in center city with it's recent merger with Wachovia. Wells Fargo wants to grow it's presence on the east coast.

[Cro Burnham]

Friday, June 19, 2009
As sales slow, regional office market holds its own
Philadelphia Business Journal - by Natalie Kostelni Staff Writer

The Center City office market is so far holding up much better than its metropolitan counterparts across the nation and is expected to continue to withstand the economic downturn with few major scars.

The area’s office market has had limited exposure to the meltdown of major financial institutions that began last fall. It also has been shielded by having had relatively little new construction in recent years that would have saturated the office market.

Nationally, about 55 million square feet of new office space is expected to come on the market this year, and about the same in 2010. In Philadelphia, no new office space is coming online in the next two years in spite of talk of new office towers.

At least one of those towers, American Commerce Center, is making progress despite an environment of tight credit and few deals. GlaxoSmithKline is eying the proposed 2.2 million-square-foot mixed-use tower, which would stand taller than the Empire State Building at 1,500 feet tall. The pharmaceutical company is considering relocating its Philadelphia operations there, which would total roughly 900,000 square feet. Other companies have also reportedly shown an interest in the building, according to market sources. They include Janney Montgomery Scott, Marsh McClennan and KPMG.

Developer Hill International Real Estate Partners made headway late last year with City Council unanimously approving rezoning a surface lot at 18th and Arch streets to make way for the project. American Commerce Center would create a landmark in the city as well as change the skyline and provide new office, retail, hotel and public space.

Hill International needs to land an anchor tenant to kick off the project.

The biggest unknown in the market may link to the recent Wachovia Corp. merger with Wells Fargo & Co. Wachovia is one of the city’s largest tenants and has most of its space along South Broad Street. Common wisdom has Wells Fargo retaining Wachovia’s size here and possibly even growing since the merger gave the San Francisco bank an automatic foothold in a major East Coast market.

Though Philadelphia is positioned better than other cities, that doesn’t mean it’s immune from greater market forces. More tenants are renewing leases rather than incurring the expense of moving. Renewals jumped last year to a range of 60 percent to 65 percent from a historical average of 50 percent to 55 percent, according to Grubb & Ellis.

Those renewals were also short-term deals of fewer than five years, as companies have been wary of making long-term commitments and taking on new debt. Some tenants are also trying to bide time and not make any near-term leasing decisions to get a better handle on where the market might be and what their needs may be in the next year or so.

Despite this, vacancy is expected to creep up over the next two years. Center City’s office vacancy rate hit single-digits last year, hovering at slightly above 9 percent. It ended 2008 at 10.1 percent and has climbed to 11.1 percent so far this year.

One part of the commercial market that isn’t expected to soon rebound is the investment market. Twelve major office buildings valued at $1.5 billion and totaling 7.9 million square feet were up for sale last year. Few made it to the settlement table.

[BigDan35]

When this was first proposed, most people on this site seemed sure that it would be built...just not sure as to when. There was good progress too, if I remember correctly it cleared about 3 construction hurdles/hearings in a row? And gained approval?? Yet since then it seems dead, nothing. And I'm curious if those same people that were so sure before, are still sure now?

[Ninjawho]

Originally Posted by BigDan35

When this was first proposed, most people on this site seemed sure that it would be built...just not sure as to when. There was good progress too, if I remember correctly it cleared about 3 construction hurdles/hearings in a row? And gained approval?? Yet since then it seems dead, nothing. And I'm curious if those same people that were so sure before, are still sure now?

I don't recall anyone ever saying it was going to be built this summer. I think, except for the the rumors of possible downsizing, theres been nothing but good news for this. Official word coming from the developers was that the earliest this was starting was this coming winter. So theres still time for more news...

[BigDan35]

Originally Posted by Ninjawho

I don't recall anyone ever saying it was going to be built this summer. I think, except for the the rumors of possible downsizing, theres been nothing but good news for this. Official word coming from the developers was that the earliest this was starting was this coming winter. So theres still time for more news...

I never said it was going to be built now. That's why I stated obviously "most people were sure it would be built....JUST NOT SURE AS TO WHEN"

I know it's not supposed to be built right now. I was just asking if the same people who originally had no concerns at all about this being built, eventually, were still so sure? Or if those same people now are starting to have second-thoughts. I'm just so sick of hearing about tons of projects everywhere being canned. It gets frustrating and annoying. And makes me not put weight on any proposal anymore.

[Ninjawho]

Originally Posted by BigDan35

I never said it was going to be built now. That's why I stated obviously "most people were sure it would be built....JUST NOT SURE AS TO WHEN"

I know it's not supposed to be built right now. I was just asking if the same people who originally had no concerns at all about this being built, eventually, were still so sure? Or if those same people now are starting to have second-thoughts. I'm just so sick of hearing about tons of projects everywhere being canned. It gets frustrating and annoying. And makes me not put weight on any proposal anymore.

I think it'll start up in a year or two. In the very least we'll hear news about tenants in that time. Whether they break grown or not at that time is another story. Honestly, I still feel this project is different than many of the projects that are getting canned or mothballed. Its retail tenants are basically secured and once it gets a major tenant or two, (which seems, at least according to the aforementioned articles, to be eminent), this will be built barring a MAJOR MAJOR financial meltdown. They don't need the types of loans other projects haven't been able to get. Plus, in a year or two, if they did need loans, things are looking like they'll be on the up and up by then.

I think, more or less, they're on schedule, at least the one they gave. Which is this winter to next winter sometime.

[We Got Five]

It comes down to an easing in the financial markets and the ability to land major corporate tenants. We've talked about this time and time again. Notice they haven't shut the parking lot down yet? That was rumored two months ago. We're looking at another 6-12 months before we see any movement regarding credit, etc. Hill International better hope some of these potential tenant's (i.e. KPMG, Marsh, and GSK) don't look elsewhere. These companies may have to with the timing of this project. And city cannot afford to miss an opportunity to land a big name or have an established one add space.

[Austinlee]

I can't believe there are 72 pages of discussion on this proposal already. There are ALOT of Philly fans on SSP.