The Triangle
American Commerce Center will reach 1500 feet
Jordan Osecki
The Walnut Street Capital plans to build the American Commerce Center, a 1,500-foot tall building on what is currently a surface parking lot in Center City, according to PhillySkyline.com.
The president of WSC, Garrett Miller, acquired the surface parking lot at 1800 Arch St., one block away from the newly-built 975-foot Comcast Center, in October 2007. According to the article, Miller said he envisioned a major mixed-use building and brought on world-renowned architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox to achieve it.
KPF designed the US Airways terminal at the Philadelphia airport, Huntsman Hall at Wharton, the Mellon Bank Center, Two Logan Square, One Logan Square, and the Four Seasons Hotel. The President of KPF is from Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in the 1950s.
KPF is also accustomed to designing tall buildings and is currently designing what will be the new tallest buildings in Shanghai (1,588 feet tall) and Hong Kong (1,608 feet tall).
The American Commerce Center will contain a 26-story hotel that tops off at 473 feet with a garden on top, three to six stories of street-accessible retail with another public garden, a 63-story office tower that is 1,210 feet tall and a spire that reaches 1,500 feet tall. The building will also have underground parking, and will be certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, making it environmentally friendly.
"While the vision of the building is to engage the pedestrian - to engage Philadelphia - at the street level, we also want the tower to be a symbol of our collective aspiration and hope. We want it to be seen from far away, literally and figuratively," Miller told PhillySkyline.com.
Miller said that partners have been established for funding and the lot was purchased completely on equity.
However, there may be some issues with zoning.
While the site is zoned with no height restriction, the building will have a large floor area, which has to be rezoned. Councilman Darrell Clarke, representative for the district, declined to comment. However, Rob Stuart, President of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, said that the height is not as important as how it meets the street, and that the developer has "done his homework" in that respect.
WSC is going to hold community forums with the neighbors to address their concerns in the coming months. According to PhillySkyline.com, construction could possibly begin in the summer of 2009, barring setbacks.