[Boku]

A school is digging in where some thought a new Comcast tower might rise

http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...ast-tower.html

Russell Byers Charter School intends to borrow millions for renovations to its building near 19th and Arch Streets, suggesting that a third Comcast tower, which many have speculated might rise on the block, won't be materializing any time soon.

Plans call for spending $4.75 million to convert the basement level into classrooms and to build a new entry structure on its Cherry Street side, among other improvements meant to accommodate the middle-school grades Russell Byers will begin hosting next year, head of school Jesse Bean said in an interview.

Much of the land on the block — bounded by 19th and 20th Streets, between Arch and Cherry — has been acquired by Liberty Property Trust in collaboration with Comcast Corp. The Malvern-based developer previously built Comcast's nearby headquarters tower at 1701 John F. Kennedy Blvd., across the street from where it is completing work on the 60-story Comcast Technology Center.

Though Liberty and Comcast have never commented on their plans for the assembled properties, they have seemed a likely site for additional space to be built for the expanding broadcast and technology giant.

But the 18,600-square-foot Byers School parcel — one of two mid-block properties not owned by Liberty — presumably isn't part of those plans, at least not yet.

Negotiations between Liberty and the charter school over the property’s sale "have stalled indefinitely," the school said in a December presentation posted on its website.