PHILADELPHIA | EVO @ Cira Centre South | 407 FT | 33 FLRS | U/C - Page 23

winxs · #**441** Posted **Aug 26, 2009, 4:45 AM**

90% of the 10 level parking garage will be leased to the IRS. The employees relocating from the current campus in Northeast Philly petitioned the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) to demand that high number of parking spots because many of the current employees can not or choose not to take mass transit. I told everyone that I knew that worked there that taking the train to work is a breeze, but to no avail.

Additionally, the IRS has about 2,000 employees that work evening and night shifts who will not be able to use SEPTA to get to and from their homes in Bucks, Burlington and Montgomery counties at the end of their shifts because the trains stop running after midnight.

As far as I know, the IRS employees will NOT have to pay to park in this garage, but they will have to apply for permits.

I do think that over time, the number of IRS employees requesting parking spaces will diminish once some of these holdouts realize that mass transit is viable for them

Last I heard, they were still negotiating a pedestrian bridge from the garage to the IRS building. That would require FPS (Federal Protective Service) to have a command post / guard station in the garage to prevent non-employees from gaining access to that bridge.

BUILDER5000 · #**442** Posted **Sep 5, 2009, 7:57 PM**

hammersklavier · #**443** Posted **Sep 5, 2009, 8:20 PM**

That's my own picture, guys...

Aaamazarite · #**444** Posted **Sep 7, 2009, 6:00 PM**

Thanks for the photos. I pass this every day but it's in a car and I'm half asleep at the time so I never get a really good look at it. So this garage is the fabled "Phase One" we heard about all this time? Hope it doesn't end there like so many other projects in phila the last 20 years.

I should probably put this in another thread but I know that several of the parking garages in center city were built to support skyscrapers but never got that far. Anyone have renders for those old projects? Some of them are 40-50 years old and were meant to support a full size highrise-- there's got to be renders out there somewhere of what the original plans were.

rricci · #**445** Posted **Sep 18, 2009, 12:52 AM**

The new construction between Walnut and Chestnut Street -- the area formerly-known-as the Post Office Annex and soon-to-be-known as Cira Centre South is growing by about a floor every week. Financing and securing tenants has taken longer than expected, but construction is well underway on one part of the complex: the ten-story parking garage.

In May, Brandywine Realty Trust announced that it has secured financing commitments of $209,340,000 and $46,735,000 on the 30th Street Post Office and Cira South Garage projects, respectively. The former provides most of the financing needed for the rehabilitation of the historic Post Office, which will soon become the new regional headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service.

The $95.0 million Cira South Garage project is located in the NE corner of the "Annex" hole and has sprouted up quickly, largely thanks to its prefab design. It will be directly across the street from the new IRS site and will hold 1,662 cars. The erection of the garage was a prerequisite for the IRS to relocate from its current location in Northeast Philly. 94 percent of the structure is already pre-leased to the IRS.

The parking garage was a contentious subject during Cira South's development review process before the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Though the project, once completed, will have many amenities, be environmentally-friendly, and surely enliven what are currently dead stretches of Walnut and Chestnut Street, many questioned the need for such a large parking structure just one block away from the second most-trafficked transit hub in the country. In fact, the garage in the original Cira Centre currently sits half-empty, with some estimates stating that up to 80% of Cira Centre workers take transit to the office every day.

http://www.planphilly.com/cira-south-update-september-16-0

theWatusi · #**446** Posted **Sep 18, 2009, 1:05 AM**

They need that big garage for all the IRS workers that commute from the NE.

winxs · #**447** Posted **Sep 18, 2009, 2:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by theWatusi

They need that big garage for all the IRS workers that commute from the NE.

That is right. Originally, the National Tres Employees Union requested 4,000 parking slots. That is about how much is currently available at the complex up on Roosevelt Blvd.

Muji · #**448** Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 3:31 AM**

The garage as of September 28:

It's not quite as bad as I was expecting, and it even complements the Post Office and 30th St. Station in its massing and color, though I highly doubt that that was intentional.

Pennsgrant · #**449** Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 4:33 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muji

The garage as of September 28:

It's not quite as bad as I was expecting, and it even complements the Post Office and 30th St. Station in its massing and color, though I highly doubt that that was intentional.

Muji are you huffing your keyboard cleaner? That edifice is an abomination.

They cant build those 2 towers fast enough to block the sight of this garage.

Johnland · #**450** Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 10:34 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pennsgrant

Muji are you huffing your keyboard cleaner? That edifice is an abomination.

They cant build those 2 towers fast enough to block the sight of this garage.

Will the new towers block this garage off from views from CenterCity? If not, will this be in plain view along the river from the Center City side?

cubanChris · #**451** Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 1:51 PM**

yes, regardless of the towers, you will be able to see this from the schuylkill river trail & center city side.

Hope they put in some trees on the east side of it =)

Philadelcago · #**452** Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 2:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubanChris

yes, regardless of the towers, you will be able to see this from the schuylkill river trail & center city side.

Hope they put in some trees on the east side of it =)

all the renders i've seen seem to indicate that they'll be putting some sort of decorative sheath over the garage... if/when that will be installed remains up for debate.

as in this:

and this (image too large to embed):
http://bp2.blogger.com/_1MENfRLEv-M/RxdssL_pP0I/AAAAAAAAAUc/V8mYNM1Xk1M/s1600-h/cira+evening_02.jpg

cubanChris · #**453** Posted **Oct 1, 2009, 7:11 PM**

I see some trees in that second render!

I forgot about those - lets hope it gets masked a bit in that way & that it looks nice as well. Regardless, you will see it from the east side of the river.

rricci · #**454** Posted **Oct 2, 2009, 10:18 AM**

Are those shoppes I see in the bottom floor of the parking garage rendering? That would help things immeasurably. Also, what is that garage covering shown in the rendering? It looks to be some type of mesh cloth type thing but lord I hope not (thinking cheap version of Murano parking garage). How about some more light display covering the east side of the parking garage a la Cira Centre. Or scrolling LED billboard a la PECO. We could have our own mini Times Square. I can't wait until this project gets built. One of the more exciting things on the horizon (after ACC) IMHO.

winxs · #**455** Posted **Oct 3, 2009, 4:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rricci

Are those shoppes I see in the bottom floor of the parking garage rendering?

Yes, the bottom level will have retail, but I was told that it would only be in the Chestnut, Walnut and 30th St sides of the garage, not on the Schuylkill Ave side. That 4th side doesn't really have much in the way of foot traffic potential, but that *is* the side visible from Center City, and it might make a good spot for restaurant offering city views. I think it might be too low to see the river from there, though.

BUILDER5000 · #**456** Posted **Oct 3, 2009, 11:04 PM**

Just when we thought it was big enough...bigger it gets lol

Plokoon11 · #**457** Posted **Oct 4, 2009, 2:04 AM**

Haha, this garage was constructed fast.

hammersklavier · #**458** Posted **Oct 4, 2009, 2:29 AM**

Yay, we're looking at a...parking garage. Although Muji's right, this isn't as bad as some of the garages in Center City...

rricci, I wonder if that east side over the train tracks is considered part of the Cira South lot or if it's considered its own separate lot? I'm of the opinion of the latter, considering the Post Office annex never reached across all the way to Schuylkill; if it is, and if Cira S. and Penn Park do what they're supposed to do, then hopefully something gets built there to hide that garage once it's finished.

The whole way the Murano interfaces with JFK Bvld. is an abomination, btw.

Pennsgrant · #**459** Posted **Oct 4, 2009, 2:51 AM**

Im not liking how the Brandywine promotional wraps around the fencing show no signs of the 2 towers, just a lame generic Brandywine print. Office vacancy in Center City up to 18%.

.

At least the Post Office is getting a nice makeover. I dont think we'll see a tower there for 5-10 years, if that.

cwd22 · #**460** Posted **Oct 4, 2009, 6:40 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pennsgrant

Office vacancy in Center City up to 18%.

.

That's actually the rate for the region, Center City's rate is around 10% I think. So it's still not good, but it's not that bad.