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  #81  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 4:35 PM
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Retail Already!?

From the Bizjournal article, they already have retail and hotel tenants lined up they say:

So far, Walnut Street has lined up tenants for the retail portion, Miller said. While he declined to give specifics, Miller said a high-end home store, restaurants ranging from moderate to high end, a gourmet food store, a health club as well as a movie theater have committed. The theater, based on a new concept emerging from Australia, would have eight screens that can seat 18 to 40 people each and offer light fare, spirits and first-run movies. The hotel flag is in negotiations and would be a full-service, five-star facility.

And the fact that they aren't getting loans from a bank, they're using $6.2 billion in assets from a pension fund, seems like this really will kick off.
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  #82  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 4:35 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swede View Post
I like the attachment on the side. To me it's the spire that looks weird. That being said... I'm saw this thread about when it was started, but was at a loss for words. That's hot.
Agreed. I love this project so far, but I'm not sold on that "fat" of a spire. I was thinking that it might look better on the other side of the building. It just reminds me of the early designs of the Freedom Tower and how much I disliked them, but 1,500 feet is still 1,500 feet so I really shouldn't complain....at all.
     
     
  #83  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 4:37 PM
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Originally Posted by jrdizzy View Post
Not sure I like the thing on the side though
Yea, I think if they lowered the height of what must be the hotel side to maybe 250 feet instead of 4-something, i think it would blend in better. Right now I think that part is a little too prominent, but i'm nit picking. It has funding too!
     
     
  #84  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 4:57 PM
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Originally Posted by alphawolf View Post
It just reminds me of the early designs of the Freedom Tower and how much I disliked them
Same opinion.
Hopefully, the design that was released is is just a draft.
     
     
  #85  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 5:10 PM
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Anyhow, pretty awesome to see some mega towers going up in some other American cities other than NY and Chicago. I'll wait for further renders before I judge the design. It will be interesting to see what other projects come about from institutional money due to the unique combination of cheep money (low interest rates) and tight credit. This is such a tempting market for real estate investment because of the easy money, but such a difficult market in which to secure financing. This could lead to a lot more investment projects like this where you see institutional cash (pension funds, endowments, etc) funding large RE investments.

Last edited by Steely Dan; Mar 14, 2008 at 8:12 PM.
     
     
  #86  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 5:15 PM
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6abc.com has a story, and it's also using phillyskyline.com as a source!

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=6019618

PHILADELPHIA - March 14, 2008 (WPVI) -- A world-class architectural firm has decided that things are looking up for Philadelphia ... about 1500 feet up.
The website Phillyskyline.com says the firm of Kohn Pederson Fox has unveiled a design for the American Commerce Center. It would rise to 89 stories from what is now a parking lot at 18th and Arch Streets, and would include offices, a hotel, and street-level stores.

The building, plus its spire, would be a full 525 feet taller than the Comcast Center, which is currently the tallest building in the city.
The designers hope to break ground next year.
     
     
  #87  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 5:21 PM
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Originally Posted by LittleMike View Post
6abc.com has a story, and it's also using phillyskyline.com as a source!

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=6019618

PHILADELPHIA - March 14, 2008 (WPVI) -- A world-class architectural firm has decided that things are looking up for Philadelphia ... about 1500 feet up.
The website Phillyskyline.com says the firm of Kohn Pederson Fox has unveiled a design for the American Commerce Center. It would rise to 89 stories from what is now a parking lot at 18th and Arch Streets, and would include offices, a hotel, and street-level stores.

The building, plus its spire, would be a full 525 feet taller than the Comcast Center, which is currently the tallest building in the city.
The designers hope to break ground next year.
89 stories? I think they just took the 63 story office tower and added the 26 story hotel, thinking that they were stacked up (as I suggested), but really this is not the case with the proposed design.
     
     
  #88  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 5:24 PM
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Originally Posted by skyscraper View Post
89 stories? I think they just took the 63 story office tower and added the 26 story hotel, thinking that they were stacked up (as I suggested), but really this is not the case with the proposed design.
i agree, i think it's a mistake on their part
     
     
  #89  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 5:28 PM
NJnativeinSoCal NJnativeinSoCal is offline
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Thumbs up Wow!

I move out to SoCal in 2006 and NOW they start building these beasts?!?! This is great news for the City of Philadelphia! I hope this is just the tip of the iceberg...
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  #90  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 6:45 PM
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Hotel and retail tenants lined up and an office vacancy rate of low double digits? Very strong financing and a famous archtectural firm? Things are looking very good. I think I hear some ambulances taking people out of the Commie-esque buildings on JFK.
     
     
  #91  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 7:05 PM
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holy shit Philly. Great building and just wow to the City of Philadelphia.
     
     
  #92  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 8:17 PM
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* many off-topic posts deleted *

this thread IS about the proposed american commerce center in philadelphia.

this thread IS NOT the thread to stir-up chicago vs. philly bullshit. (vs. threads are forbidden everywhere on this forum)
this thread IS NOT the thread to tell everyone on the forum how you hate spires for the 10 billionth time.
this thread IS NOT the thread to debate whether the chicago spire or the american commerce center is the better skyscraper proposal.
this thread IS NOT the thread to argue yet again which buildings are taller than which based on which way someone chooses to measure them.
this thread IS NOT the thread to act like an obnoxious, argumentative jack-ass just because you're good at it.

stay on topic.



and to get this back on track, let me say that this is very exciting news for philadelphia! philly's getting ready to go big. i'll be interested to see how the design evolves from these early rough renderings.
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  #93  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 9:09 PM
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I still can't believe it !! If this really does break ground in spring/summer 2009, anyone have a rough completion date ???
And I wonder if LPT (CC) is feeling dissappointed that their reign will end so quickly ?? Woo-Hoo !!!
     
     
  #94  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 9:43 PM
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I still can't believe it !! If this really does break ground in spring/summer 2009, anyone have a rough completion date ???
And I wonder if LPT (CC) is feeling dissappointed that their reign will end so quickly ?? Woo-Hoo !!!
I wonder if Comcast is going to have some offices in this new building...it looks like the plot they own to build the second tower is being filled in with a fountain (see Phillyskyline.com) which is more permanent than the grass originally proposed. They might have known about this project since its inception and snuck in there. That's complete utter speculation...no truth to that whatsoever. Just me guessing, so if that's the case maybe their egos won't be as crushed.
     
     
  #95  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 10:46 PM
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Just watched the piece on Action News. They interviewed a member of the chamber of commerce, he said the square foot rate here is about 50% of NY's. And that there is still room for more office square footage in the local market. Hopefully a mini-boom is upon us.
     
     
  #96  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 11:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DIESELPOLO View Post
From the Bizjournal article, they already have retail and hotel tenants lined up they say:

So far, Walnut Street has lined up tenants for the retail portion, Miller said. While he declined to give specifics, Miller said a high-end home store, restaurants ranging from moderate to high end, a gourmet food store, a health club as well as a movie theater have committed. The theater, based on a new concept emerging from Australia, would have eight screens that can seat 18 to 40 people each and offer light fare, spirits and first-run movies. The hotel flag is in negotiations and would be a full-service, five-star facility.

And the fact that they aren't getting loans from a bank, they're using $6.2 billion in assets from a pension fund, seems like this really will kick off.

This project seems to be moving almost as fast as this forum. Good post Diesel. im esp encouraged by the fact the developers have so much of their own equity in the project instead of simply relying on external credit to finance everything.
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  #97  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2008, 11:37 PM
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This thing is turbocharged. Good on Philly! I feel a bit of a connection with Philly because I've probably spent more time in it than in any city that I haven't actually lived in.
     
     
  #98  
Old Posted Mar 15, 2008, 12:01 AM
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Awesome tower for Philly.
     
     
  #99  
Old Posted Mar 15, 2008, 12:22 AM
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I wanted to bring this over from the Philly thread.

Photo by Giovanni Sasso www.phillyskyline.com

     
     
  #100  
Old Posted Mar 15, 2008, 12:41 AM
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I see what some are saying about the size of the spire, but this shot makes the proportions alright in my eyes.
     
     
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