PHILADELPHIA | Highrise Development Thread X

[City Wide]

Originally Posted by Redddog

We tried to move our offices into Cira about a year ago. They are tough to deal with and made decisions that seemed like they couldn't care less if we took space there.

It would make perfect sense, given their indifference to a potential leasee, that they had a bigger plan.

It also makes perfect sense from a location perspective, that Life sciences would be their ultimate tennents.

I thought one of the keys for Life Science tenants is large floor foot prints, and wet labs, which ain't Cira. How much space were you looking for?

[summersm343]

Originally Posted by City Wide

I thought one of the keys for Life Science tenants is large floor foot prints, and wet labs, which ain't Cira. How much space were you looking for?

Some floors in Cira actually have some pretty massive floor plates. It's a very wide building.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by City Wide

I thought one of the keys for Life Science tenants is large floor foot prints, and wet labs, which ain't Cira. How much space were you looking for?

Not a TON. I think we were looking for about 8-10,000 sq ft.

I'm sure every business is different but that building is pretty damn big. I can't imagine it would preclude any Life Sciences labs from setting up shop.

[TK2001]

Originally Posted by PurpleWhiteOut

Not development related, but 1 and 2 liberty place's lighting is looking worse than ever. From my south west view today Liberty 1 is completely out (which I can only hope is for overdue repairs lol), and Liberty 2's bottom chevron was 75% out with only one half-lit light. I think at this point they look better off than looking broken.

It now looks as if they have restored the lights on One Liberty Place. The lights are actually noticable from NJ and you can tell every section is lit

One Liberty Place crown light restoration by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

[TK2001]

https://phillyyimby.com/2021/01/desi...e-skyline.html

[PurpleWhiteOut]

Originally Posted by TK2001

It now looks as if they have restored the lights on One Liberty Place. The lights are actually noticable from NJ and you can tell every section is lit

Yeah, I'm happy that I spoke too soon, I saw last week and was thrilled and I'm sure Liberty 2 will be soon, then. It looks crisp and bright and looks way better. You can really see how dim it got when you compare the two now.

[TK2001]

I'm incredibly glad they're finally restoring those lights again. But it would be great if Bell Atlantic Tower, IBX, and Mellon Bank Center had their original decorative lighting still lit from when they were first constructed

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by TK2001

I'm incredibly glad they're finally restoring those lights again. But it would be great if Bell Atlantic Tower, IBX, and Mellon Bank Center had their original decorative lighting still lit from when they were first constructed

I can't recall....what was the lighting scheme at IBX?

[thoughtcriminal]

Originally Posted by PHL10

I can't recall....what was the lighting scheme at IBX?

they used to light the corners up:

[towerpower123]

^^^ Those looks like fluorescent tube lights that use a ton of power and are excessively bright for decorative lighting. Modern LEDs would look better and use less power.

[TK2001]

Originally Posted by thoughtcriminal

they used to light the corners up:

The angled tops also had rectangular cut outs on the bottom and top for blue lights to shine through. Along with the FAA lights blinking white during the day

[SEFTA]

I've been looking for a pic of this lighting.
Pittsburgh has a Light-up Night once a year where all the buildings put on their best show.

Originally Posted by thoughtcriminal

they used to light the corners up:

[sirexcaliber]

the thing that sucks about this tower is there was suppose to be two twin towers, and you can't find the original architectural design for this building to show what would have been there instead of the low level apartment structure.

[Nova08]

Philly’s Pearl Properties is converting Embassy Suites on the Parkway into apartments
https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate...-20210121.html

The Terrace on 18th will feature 288 one-bedroom, one-bath apartments with balconies and new kitchens. Planned amenities include a fitness center, a movie room, recreation rooms, and a space with a commercial kitchen that residents will be able to rent out for gatherings. The Terrace is accepting applications for leases that will start June 1.
...
The Terrace also will host Downingtown-based Victory Brewing Co.’s first Center City location, a two-level brewery and taproom

[Skintreesnail]

Originally Posted by Nova08

Philly’s Pearl Properties is converting Embassy Suites on the Parkway into apartments
https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate...-20210121.html

Bummer, don't see any mention of recladding and not in the render.

[TK2001]

Originally Posted by sirexcaliber

the thing that sucks about this tower is there was suppose to be two twin towers, and you can't find the original architectural design for this building to show what would have been there instead of the low level apartment structure.

What's this then?

2021-01-21_09-57-08 by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

And the 1989 redesign after the law firm Blank Rome Comisky and McCauley originally going in the twin towers cancelled their plans to move in


2021-01-21_09-57-15 by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

[JohnIII]

Originally Posted by TK2001

What's this then?

2021-01-21_09-57-08 by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

And the 1989 redesign after the law firm Blank Rome Comisky and McCauley originally going in the twin towers cancelled their plans to move in


2021-01-21_09-57-15 by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

The top photo was the original design for the Blue Cross Tower. When the Blue Cross towers were built the order of how they were built went in this manner. My biggest flaw on skyscrapers is that when you are a skyscraper enthusiast and you get older you realize plans like this could have been; you see potential; you see progress and want it for yourself and other people, even the entire city and when you see it doesn't work out you want to see success more than it is rational in the business sense to come about at times and the Blue Cross Build or whatever its name is now personifies this (I think its call the IBX Tower now but I'll just call it the Blue Cross Building because it was built to be that and it will make sense a bit later.

First, the Commerce Square on 20th and Market was built; that was Commerce One; this was the first building to break the height limit of City Hall but few knew it.

Second Liberty One was built the same year but it broke the hieght limit by a lot even though it was a few weeks later than Commerce One.

Then the Blue Cross Building was built; I guess around 1988 or 1989 and Liberty One and Commerce One really made downtown stand out; Commerce One didn't because it had no external lighting that stook out at the time but it was very noticeable during the day.

The Blue Cross Building stood out because it was so lit up at night that even though it wasn't the tallest at the time you could see it from the South Street Bridge and really anywhere in North or South Philly easily and when it was built everyone who was a skyscraper enthusiast looked forward to it because it was to look identical; there was even a rumour that Blue Cross Two would be taller because right after they built it the Mellon Tower was built and that was to be about the same height as Liberty One's spire; then after that BEll Tower would be built and Center City West (Schuylkill Banks) was to be built after that however things changed. Mellow tower was made shorter; Center City West was delayed and now you generation gets to glory in it for my own generation did not see it when we were young

I know they changed the design of the Blue Cross Two Tower because of a law firm; but that didn't last; there was some optimism the project because for the longer time it was an overground feed filled lot but then Blue Cross made the space that was between the two towers into a rest area with a small cascading fountain that ran off of a wall; many wondered if Blue Cross Two would rise after that but now its a short building there. Guess they ran out of money or something.

[PHL10]

^^^ Awesome, I never knew there was a redesign - would have been very cool.

BTW, it's a mistake to suggest that some old information or renderings can't be found with TK on this forum!

[TK2001]

Originally Posted by JohnIII

The top photo was the original design for the Blue Cross Tower. When the Blue Cross towers were built the order of how they were built went in this manner. My biggest flaw on skyscrapers is that when you are a skyscraper enthusiast and you get older you realize plans like this could have been; you see potential; you see progress and want it for yourself and other people, even the entire city and when you see it doesn't work out you want to see success more than it is rational in the business sense to come about at times and the Blue Cross Build or whatever its name is now personifies this (I think its call the IBX Tower now but I'll just call it the Blue Cross Building because it was built to be that and it will make sense a bit later.

First, the Commerce Square on 20th and Market was built; that was Commerce One; this was the first building to break the height limit of City Hall but few knew it.

Second Liberty One was built the same year but it broke the hieght limit by a lot even though it was a few weeks later than Commerce One.

Then the Blue Cross Building was built; I guess around 1988 or 1989 and Liberty One and Commerce One really made downtown stand out; Commerce One didn't because it had no external lighting that stook out at the time but it was very noticeable during the day.

The Blue Cross Building stood out because it was so lit up at night that even though it wasn't the tallest at the time you could see it from the South Street Bridge and really anywhere in North or South Philly easily and when it was built everyone who was a skyscraper enthusiast looked forward to it because it was to look identical; there was even a rumour that Blue Cross Two would be taller because right after they built it the Mellon Tower was built and that was to be about the same height as Liberty One's spire; then after that BEll Tower would be built and Center City West (Schuylkill Banks) was to be built after that however things changed. Mellow tower was made shorter; Center City West was delayed and now you generation gets to glory in it for my own generation did not see it when we were young

I know they changed the design of the Blue Cross Two Tower because of a law firm; but that didn't last; there was some optimism the project because for the longer time it was an overground feed filled lot but then Blue Cross made the space that was between the two towers into a rest area with a small cascading fountain that ran off of a wall; many wondered if Blue Cross Two would rise after that but now its a short building there. Guess they ran out of money or something.

Interesting read honestly. I wish there was so much more photographs of the skyline between 1985-1993, lots of history on skyscraper construction in between those years. Even though I'm only 19 and I'm loving current transformation of Philadelphia, it's actually the 80's skyscraper boom that interests me the most, my favorite look to the skyline is the 1987 skyline when One Liberty was above all.

Anyways, here is some photoshop I did to see what the twins would look like in reality

IBX Tower twin photoshop by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

IBX Twin Towers with skyline photoshop by Philly SkyGuy, on Flickr

[TK2001]

Originally Posted by JohnIII

Then the Blue Cross Building was built; I guess around 1988 or 1989 and Liberty One and Commerce One really made downtown stand out; Commerce One didn't because it had no external lighting that stook out at the time but it was very noticeable during the day.

According to the photos I found:

The tower was green lit in October 1986

Penn Center building on site demolished by November 1987

The tower was above ground by February 1988

Core topped out May 1988

Steel topped out August 1988

Tower was completely cladded by January 1989

Here's a construction shot found on Google, looks like it was taken around April 1988