| |
Posted Jan 21, 2020, 3:21 PM
|
|
Registered User
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 770
|
|
Morgan Lewis signs deal to kick off new, $200M Center City office tower
https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...-new-200m.html
Quote:
Morgan Lewis & Bockius, one of Philadelphia’s biggest law firms, has signed a lease to have built a new, $200 million headquarters at 2222 Market St. in Center City.
Parkway Corp. and Morgan Lewis signed a 20-year deal late December for the development of what will be a 19-story, 305,000-square-foot building. The law firm will occupy the entire building. The developer anticipates breaking ground this summer.
The last built-to-suit project that was completed in Philadelphia was in 2018 when Liberty Property Trust developed Comcast Technology Center. There's a chance 2222 Market may not be the only new office tower to get underway this year. Chubb, the insurance company, is also working with Parkway for a new tower at 20th and Arch streets in Philadelphia, according to sources.
Morgan Lewis had been evaluating its options for nearly two years. It considered remaining in 1701 Market St., where it has been in 289,432 square feet since 1998. The firm also looked at existing spaces in the city as well as other proposed projects but last May decided to begin negotiations in earnest with Parkway for 2222 Market.
“We just came to a consensus that we loved having our own space, loved being in the Center City community and we really liked having the ability to have some say over what that building looks like,” said Sarah Bouchard, managing partner for Morgan Lewis's Philadelphia office.
The firm, Bouchard said, was drawn to 2222 Market much in the way one might find just the right house to buy and move into. The design, green spaces and lighting along with the location worked for the firm. “We liked the idea of being part of the transformation in that part of the city,” she said.
Most recently, Aramark Corp. and Entercom Communications Corp. relocated their respective headquarters to 2400 Market St. That building also houses the Fitler Club, a lifestyle club that has a range of amenities including dining, coworking, fitness and overnight rooms that has become a draw for companies. It’s also near 30th Street Station.
“We timed the walk,” Bouchard said about the trek between 30th Street Station and the new building. “It was important for us to test. We don’t know what the future holds but we can imagine it with fewer cars. Many of our associates don’t own cars and live in the city. For people who live outside of the city, commuting on the train is how they get to work.”
From the 30th Street Station’s platform to 2222 Market is an eight-minute walk, Bouchard said.
Morgan Lewis has more than 550 local employees.
With its new building, the firm has focused on health and wellness, collaborative spaces and decided to go to a one-size-fits-all office, which many law firms and companies, in general, have embraced. There will be a fitness facility, café with an outdoor terrace and more spaces that seek to lure employees out of their offices and to work in different areas together. Think of Starbucks and how people go to it for a change of scenery and to work, Bouchard said. Gensler is the architect.
“We really do feel culture is important and being together is part of that,” Bouchard said.
The building and its spaces will be used to bolster that culture as well as be a tool to attract and retain talent.
The site consists mostly of a surface parking lot, which Rob Zuritsky, CEO of Parkway, said was the first deal he did for the company when he came out of college. Late last fall, Parkway purchased a building housing a 7-Eleven at 2200-2202 Market St., a sliver of a parcel that adds to the other portions of the Center City block that the company already owns.
It in 2018 and not long after Parkway hired Brian Berson, who worked with Brandywine Realty Trust and Liberty Property Trust, to oversee development that Morgan Lewis signaled it would consider a new building for its Philadelphia headquarters.
“I think the odds makers really didn’t even have us on the card for betting,” Zuritsky said. “[Brian] designed with architect Gensler a building that is off the charts. The location is amazing. It’s the cool, new place in town.”
A deal was struck for 20 years, a long-term deal that helped Parkway to get the project financed. Construction costs — from materials to labor— are high.
“To build something like this is not for the faint of heart,” Zuritsky said. “This is the first office building I will have worked on in Center City. I think this is a really big statement about the city and the law firm and them making a really big commitment. I’m hoping this is a turning point where we become a city like Boston where they are running out of space to build.”
Tom Doughty, Pete Talman, and Tom Weitzel, and Mitchell Marcus of JLL brokered the deal. Bohler Engineering will oversee engineering and Studio Bryan Hanes has been awarded landscape design.
Morgan Lewis anticipates moving into the new tower in 2023, which means its space at 1701 Market will become available to a tenant or tenants looking in a market that has limited number of large blocks of continuous space.
|
|
|
|
Prev
Linear Mode
