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

[hammersklavier]

At least we're not as bad as the Chicagoites whining about their Mandarin Oriental.

Securing a lead tenant, I agree, but I'm not so sure it'll be GSK. I mean, GSK moved its U.S. HQ down to the Research Triangle not two years ago, and securing space in this building would just make that move look...stupid. (I mean, after all, this is exactly the type of building that should be a corporate or national HQ.)

My bet? They surprised us when they announced this thing. They'll surprise us again when they announce the lead tenant.

[We Got Five]

I would be astonished. When was the last time we recruited a major corporation to center city? Were we even involved with Towers Watson when they chose NYC for their corporate HQ despite having a huge presence here (for now anyway).

It might only take one major name to move here to make this thing happen.

[zuelas]

It apparently isn't the most viable (or attractive) proposal. Just let it die quietly....

[hammersklavier]

This is a statement I find hard to believe; as we've already noted, Comcast spent nearly a decade in its development cycle. It's not dead, not yet--wait until the market forces pick back up. And as for the aesthetics, feel free to disagree.

[phillyaggie]

Originally Posted by philadelphiathrives

I agree. These projects take time; remember it took 20 years to build that 1500 foot screwdriver in Shanghai.

The long term fundamentals of this project, as big as it is, are good. The vacancy rate of office space in Center City was 12% last year, which is relatively low for such a bad recession. The site is located in the heart of a very large and crowded business district, surrounded by many corporate headquarters and towers; it's within walking distance of what will be the world's largest museum district (which itself is undergoing several streetscape improvements); it's within walking distance of several of the country's most upscale neighborhoods; adjacent to one of the largest regional rail systems in the world; and a few blocks from the expanding PA Convention Center, the number one convention center in the world for medical conventions. Plus, the ACC will have several upscale stores, restaurants, and a movie theater, which adds to what Comcast Center has and all the fancy stores and restaurants of Rittenhouse Square. Obviously, I don't buy the "taxes are too high" argument. It's not what you pay; it's what you get in return.

So, I think this will be built. We just have to be patient.

"world's largest museum district"? Really? I had not heard/read that attribute about the Center City area museums before...specifically, I'm assuming you're talking about the museums on the Parkway...?

nothing wrong in pumping a little sunshine in Philly threads to relieve pressure from a lot of negadelphianism to be read everyday on philly.com and other places...

[philadelphiathrives]

Originally Posted by phillyaggie

"world's largest museum district"? Really? I had not heard/read that attribute about the Center City area museums before...specifically, I'm assuming you're talking about the museums on the Parkway...?

nothing wrong in pumping a little sunshine in Philly threads to relieve pressure from a lot of negadelphianism to be read everyday on philly.com and other places...

Actually, I've heard that the Parkway is likely the world's largest museum district and certainly would be with the Barnes, that's one of the many things that makes it so special.

Also, your right about the negativity on philly.com, and not just the comments. I think that's why the Inquirer and Daily News are going out of business, and deserve too.

[pwp]

Originally Posted by philadelphiathrives

Actually, I've heard that the Parkway is likely the world's largest museum district and certainly would be with the Barnes, that's one of the many things that makes it so special.

Also, your right about the negativity on philly.com, and not just the comments. I think that's why the Inquirer and Daily News are going out of business, and deserve too.

I believe there is some sort of Holocaust memorial/museum planned for the Parkway too. Just another notch on the world's largest museum district's belt

[thenbagis]

yeah this definitely going off topic... But I'd tend to think that the Mall in DC with all the Smithsonians is tad bigger than our "museum district"

[brian.odonnell20]

For anybody wondering about the status of ACC, these are the obstacles it needs to overcome for a legitimate groundbreaking date and construction slot:

As we all well know, the biggest obstacle remaining for the new tower is landing a big anchor tenant. Apparently, Hill Real Estate had been trying for about a year and a half now to land one and since the summer of 2009 has lined up a few viable prospects: Glaxo Kline Smith, TD Bank, Janney Montgomery Scott, Marsh McClellon, and KPMG. And I know what your thinking.. this is old news and is what everyone has been saying on the forum for more than two years now. But as ive watched this thread continue on and on people have only been telling you problems, not why the problems are there. So, to finally clear things up once and for all, the only problem the tower's progress has right now is an anchor tenant, not funding. The funding for the project has been lined up and secure since day one of the proposal.. thats why this didn't end up like the spire. Anyways, the project cannot yet land an anchor tenant because companies are reluctant to do so in this economic climate. For instance, GSK has been considering moving hqs to philly since the proposal, but has not yet been guaranteed things and still there are many risks on the table with the economy.

In other words, people can expect news from this project when companies can be assured their investments will be safe, or simply when the economy recovers enough to support them fully again, which could be in as few as two or three months.

After the project lands a tenant though, it will receive final approval from the city council with fresh new groundbreaking and completion dates.

And for anyone who thinks this project is dead, think again. Just because there hasn't been news coming from it doesn't mean it's cancelled.

Being the optimistic person I am with a lot of engineering and development background, I would predict a groundbreaking date of late 2010 to early 2011.

[Dac150]

Originally Posted by brian.odonnell20

For instance, GSK has been considering moving hqs to philly since the proposal.

Really, where did you hear that? I’d be very surprised if they would uproot themselves from London.

[Onn]

Originally Posted by Dac150

Really, where did you hear that? I’d be very surprised if they would uproot themselves from London.

I assume they mean their American offices, and yes it was reported a long time ago. But their lease on the place they are currently at in the Philly area isn't up for a few more years yet.

http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2008/10/06/story14.html

[Dac150]

Ah ok, their 'American HQ' makes more sense.

[phillyscooter]

Change the name from American Commerce Center to Aberdeen Asset Center!

[brian.odonnell20]

Great article link onn.. also a GSK lease would take up the majority of the tower’s 1.3 million square feet of office space.. enough to get final approval. But its current leases are not up until 2013 2014, hopefully it could make a deal to kickstart the project before then ? ?

[Aaamazarite]

This project will shoot Philly into the stratosphere. It will be the symbol of the city in the 21st Century like City Hall was in the 20th.

[We Got Five]

KPMG, TD Bank and Janney were never even remotely serious contenders to fill this and will never be. Marsh? Really? Come on.

GSK is an option, a legitimate option. But that option is getting bleaker because they continue to shuttle jobs to North Carolina in cost cutting measures...I'm more concerned that they could leave Philly in 2014.

Optimism is one thing. But reality is something else. This building will be built when someone outside the area steps in.

[brian.odonnell20]

good point.. although the companies I had listed off were legitimately interested tenants in summer 2009 according to market sources (interested counts..?). I personally do not have too much confidence in any of the companies besides gsk as well as tdb at one point in time. But the point I was trying to make was that businesses from outside the region like you said are going to make big moves like this when the economy can be stable enough for it.

Mind you I'm not too worried about gsk leaving.. despite the cost cutting measures they appear to be more interested in consolidating offices in one building which would actually apparently save money.

Either way, it really all depends on how bad the city wants this one, because essentially, if they want to attract outside sources, they will have to take steps toward being a more attractive city for businesses to move their offices to and stake long term leases in.

There's not too much debate that this is still a live project, we just need to be patient and the developers just need to be agressive when the economy picks up.

[We Got Five]

Either way, it really all depends on how bad the city wants this one, because essentially, if they want to attract outside sources, they will have to take steps toward being a more attractive city for businesses to move their offices to and stake long term leases in.

We've been saying this for 25 years. No one would argue that center city hasn't become an attractive destination for leisure travelers. In fact, I believe it's become a great weekend trip for many on the east coast. But from a business standpoint, the reality is troubling. The office market has not grown in 25 years. I asked the question two week's ago...who was the last major company to move to center city? There needs to be a seismic shift in the way we create/conduct business before we ever see any changes. The continued trend of marketing to young college graduates, the expansion and creation of the new PHL airport, and increased public trans will help over the next 15-20 years.

[brian.odonnell20]

Being an architect I disagree with a lot of the design elements of this building. For one thing, it's just way too tall for the skyline. the only angle it even kind of looks proportionate in is from the art museum. Although the massive height of the building is very important for the city aura and pride and things like that, I feel it just simply throws all the balance and art out of the skyline, which imo is quite beautiful as it is now, especially with the comcast center. If/when it gets built at this height there is going to need to be a 1100 or 1200 footer built to the left of it (looking at it from the stadiums/I95) to make the skyline beautiful again. Also, besides the height, the midrise is really imposing and unnecessary. It could honestly be half as long as it is and would make the whole building seem less demanding and outlandish. I like the idea of an observation deck, although there really isn't much at all to see compared to the empire state building or the sears/willis tower. And also in general I'd like for once to not have a skyscraper being built in this country that doesn't cheat its way above 1500 feet. The freedom tower is only something like 1370 without the spire and the acc is only 1210without its 300 foot spire. 63 floors? honestly? The comcast center nearly has that and its how many feet shorter??

IDK ill take take what I can though. Its like the health care bill.. i dont really like it but its a good start.

[wanderer34]

Look, Odonnell!!! I can understand your POV but I believe that this build ing is a must for this city to be competitive in this country, especially w/ Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and especially Miami have just been thrust into the world scene. Philly needs to cast aside it's colonial image for awhile and become like a SF, in terms of economics. We have universities, hospitals, manufacturing (even though it's not the same type of heavy manufacting, but it's still there), transportation, port operations (hoping for the dredging project to go through), tourism, and even bioengineering, filmmaking, casinos, and the art scene is helping us. This skyscraper is our future!!!!

cubanChris: I didn't really know whether to continue or abolish the BRT. The reason why was because I wasn't sure whether property taxes would go sky high (like in Jersey). NYC's property taxes are similar to Philly because they rely on real estate assessments to determine the annual rate (ex. $100K - $1K annual rate). Phila has a lower annual rate, and I'm afraid that Nutter might raise the rate to make Phila look like NYC (hint - gentrification). And while I have no problem w/ gentrification, especially in places like Strawberry Mansion and Parkside, which actually need it, other stable places like Germantown, Olney, and the NE don't need it, they all just need better services (police, fire, sanitation, schools, etc.). I'd really hate to see the entire city limits of Philly turn into another carbon copy Disneyland forjust the rich. I know, I'moriginally from Bklyn and NYC gets weirder every year to me.

To all: I was always under the impression that the Smithsonian was the largest in the country. As far as other cities, it's NYC's museum mile that I think off, but with the Barnes, Philly's just seems more cohesive!!!