"This Changes Everything"
-- how appropriate of a statement for this tower, on so many levels.
Let me introduce myself finally to this board, a long time reader, never a writer. I grew up in Philadelphia, but have lived the past 3 years in Chicago. I will be moving back to Philadelphia this summer for numerous reasons, one being the amazing growth I've witnessed in the city the past few years, and wanting to get in on the action.
When I first saw the announcement of the new 1500' proposed tower (thanks to Brad, of course, at PhillySkyline), I was almost in shock. Every couple hours I kept going back to the website,
www.acctower.com, in case I thought I had mistaken the city or had been dreaming it. The claim, "This Changes Everything", really made me think about a couple of different things.
On one level, in the obvious way, it speaks to Philadelphia and how the city has been undergoing a rebirth the past decade. This tower represents the next step in our journey, the epitome of what we've all been praying for the past few years: a 'supertall' skyscraper to give our city a new identity in the new millennium. Of course, Comcast Center was a huge development for Philadelphia, but we all know we wanted more. We've all been waiting for that big announcement for so long, with only rumors of Wachovia or Comcast Phase II to keep us believing the dream that a supertall might actually happen. Of course today we learned differently. ACC will change everything for future development in the city, now setting a new standard for what we can achieve.
On the second level, this statement, "This Changes Everything", is an announcement to the country that Philadelphia is ready to take a step into the national limelight. If this tower breaks ground, we put ourselves in front of the US and make it known that we are back in business. This would be the biggest tower in the US outside NY and Chicago (as you're all aware). We take a big step forward, but put ourselves among a much larger competitive base. I imagine this is the part of fulfilling the proclamation that we're 'America's Next Great City'. If (I hope) the tower is built, we suddenly get compared with a whole new level. We put a physical, visible presence to reflect what we all feel about the city, that we're definitely on our way up.
I watched the announcement, ground breaking, and building of Comcast Center, like I'm sure many of you have done as well. I remember, while watching the tower go up, getting very excited for what I thought might trigger a domino effect of development in Center City. Today, my dreams came true, when my fantasy of a supertall might be considered for the city. Personally, I was praying for one along the Schyullkill (sort of like the River City proposal) -- I thought that would give the skyline more balance, considering Cira Centre South and the new highrise developemnts along the Delaware. But hell, a tower in Philly (technically speaking) bigger than the Sears Tower?! I don't care where it is or what the F it looks like! Build, build, build -- we're too late in the game to do much wrong at this point.
A tower like this, I'm almost sure, would "change everything" -- from not only our perspective of Philadelphia, but for every visitor to this city.
We're in the first phases of prepping ourselves for the Big Leagues, ladies and gentlemen of Philadelphia. Hold on tight, the future may be a wild one.