PHILADELPHIA | Comcast Technology Center | 1,121 FT | 60 FLOORS

[boxbot]

Originally Posted by Plokoon11

A guy from city data who works on the site. He said there working on design changes.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/phila...-rising-4.html

That's awesome. Guy seems legit (a lot of posts and rep on the site). I'm thinking it couldn't involve additional floors, though. Wouldn't any (significant) design change cause complications and require a lot of additional approvals? Do any of our resident insiders/investigators have any knowledge of a 20 ft. increase? Would the L&I signage on site have to reflect a change? Anyway, I hope it's true and I hope it involves the roof height (currently 911.5 ft.)

[boxbot]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

If the lower roof went up 20 feet it would be at 931' so no. The upper roof(cooling tower) is already 996' so it would push that past 1000'

Right.

[summersm343]

20 foot height increase =

931 foot roof height
1,015 foot mechanical tower height
1,141 foot spire height

50 foot height increase =

961 foot roof height
1,045 foot mechanical tower height
1,171 foot spire height

[japmes]

Originally Posted by summersm343

20 foot height increase =

931 foot roof height
1,015 foot mechanical tower height
1,141 foot spire height

50 foot height increase =

961 foot roof height
1,045 foot mechanical tower height
1,171 foot spire height

The determining factor will be whether the teal mobile crane can reach an extra 50'.

[McBane]

I am by no means a construction expert, but I wonder....

Lots of folks are asking where the permanent crane is and why are they still using mobile cranes. Could this be it? The change in height is requiring them to hold off on the permanent crane?

[iheartphilly]

Originally Posted by McBane

I am by no means a construction expert, but I wonder....

Lots of folks are asking where the permanent crane is and why are they still using mobile cranes. Could this be it? The change in height is requiring them to hold off on the permanent crane?

I doubt it. The crane can grow with the height of the building. There's a lot of things going on at the ground level (i.e., foundation and other core work) and I think they need to get that done first before setting up a crane. They would also need the room to stage pieces of the crane which doesn't look like much room right now with everything going on in the pit.

[Plokoon11]

I wouldn't be surprised if the reason for more hieght is because of the demand of Comcast's need for space, and maybe the fact that the merger fell apart that they could probably post pone the next tower and just add more space in this one. But I am most excited (if this this is the case) to see how the design changes, do they add more floors to the top?

[phillyjoel]

What if they push it passed 1,200?

[summersm343]

[joemustardo]

Went by today and a bunch of concrete trucks were there. The core is HUGE!

[kraggman]

Originally Posted by joemustardo

Went buy today and a bunch of concrete trucks were there. The core is HUGE!

I knew it !! Size does matter.

[Jawnadelphia]

Originally Posted by joemustardo

Went buy today and a bunch of concrete trucks were there. The core is HUGE!

It's very true. It feels just gigantic in person ...like its about to destroy the Sterling, and well 1900 Arch looks quite inferior/weak in the presence of the mighty core.

[McBane]

The entire site is huge. And it does make me wonder. With all the chatter about a 3rd tower, it seems odd that this site, which is surely big enough to accommodate two towers, was designed for only one tower (directly across the street, you have two highrises and a garage). You'd think they would have created that base to support a second tower or otherwise create some flexibility for the future. It's an awfully spacious site, not very efficient use of space. I say that within the context that Comcast is already appearing to need more space and in order to do that, they now need to buy land, create another worksite, create another foundation, etc. all of which is expensive and time consuming.

It's not a knock on the tower. It just doesn't seem like Comcast/Liberty thought it through all the way. If they end up needing a 3rd tower, it probably could have gone up in half the time had they decided ahead of time to maximize the existing footprint. That's all.

And yes, I understand that planning for this tower was done well before the possibility of a 3rd tower entered into anyone's minds but still, someone should have been thinking about the long term, no?

(This post assumes that the actual tower will not be extending the entire width of the block.)

[joemustardo]

Originally Posted by McBane

The entire site is huge. And it does make me wonder. With all the chatter about a 3rd tower, it seems odd that this site, which is surely big enough to accommodate two towers, was designed for only one tower (directly across the street, you have two highrises and a garage). You'd think they would have created that base to support a second tower or otherwise create some flexibility for the future. It's an awfully spacious site, not very efficient use of space. I say that within the context that Comcast is already appearing to need more space and in order to do that, they now need to buy land, create another worksite, create another foundation, etc. all of which is expensive and time consuming.

It's not a knock on the tower. It just doesn't seem like Comcast/Liberty thought it through all the way. If they end up needing a 3rd tower, it probably could have gone up in half the time had they decided ahead of time to maximize the existing footprint. That's all.

And yes, I understand that planning for this tower was done well before the possibility of a 3rd tower entered into anyone's minds but still, someone should have been thinking about the long term, no?

(This post assumes that the actual tower will not be extending the entire width of the block.)

The whole tower occupies the entire site. But as seen in the rendering, the actual tower itself doesn't go end to end, just the structure (lobby, retail, parking)

[tower]

I still can't quite shake the feeling sometimes that CITC is just a shorter building than CC with a stick on top. Got used to the concept but 20 extra feet is certainly a favor if true

[Elevator1]

Core is now visible from Vine Street xway eastbound exiting Schuylkill.

[allovertown]

Originally Posted by McBane

The entire site is huge. And it does make me wonder. With all the chatter about a 3rd tower, it seems odd that this site, which is surely big enough to accommodate two towers, was designed for only one tower (directly across the street, you have two highrises and a garage). You'd think they would have created that base to support a second tower or otherwise create some flexibility for the future. It's an awfully spacious site, not very efficient use of space. I say that within the context that Comcast is already appearing to need more space and in order to do that, they now need to buy land, create another worksite, create another foundation, etc. all of which is expensive and time consuming.

It's not a knock on the tower. It just doesn't seem like Comcast/Liberty thought it through all the way. If they end up needing a 3rd tower, it probably could have gone up in half the time had they decided ahead of time to maximize the existing footprint. That's all.

And yes, I understand that planning for this tower was done well before the possibility of a 3rd tower entered into anyone's minds but still, someone should have been thinking about the long term, no?

(This post assumes that the actual tower will not be extending the entire width of the block.)

Not an efficient use of space? Haha wow. It's going to be the tallest building in America outside of NYC and Chicago! They really need to jam another tower on the property to get McBane approval for efficient use of space?

I think they've used their space just fine, there are plenty of other places they could build another tower.

[philatonian]

Originally Posted by tower

I still can't quite shake the feeling sometimes that CITC is just a shorter building than CC with a stick on top. Got used to the concept but 20 extra feet is certainly a favor if true

That's what I keep thinking every time I look at the rendering. It's a sexy building, but as much money as it's costing, I wonder what kept them from making it truly taller than Comcast Center. What's another couple million from Comcast?

[tower]

Originally Posted by philatonian

That's what I keep thinking every time I look at the rendering. It's a sexy building, but as much money as it's costing, I wonder what kept them from making it truly taller than Comcast Center. What's another couple million from Comcast?

I'll still end up liking the building regardless, but I wonder the same thing. It kinda bugs me that it "falls short", because "falling short" of things seems to be a longstanding Philly tradition haha.

[Londonee]

Originally Posted by tower

I'll still end up liking the building regardless, but I wonder the same thing. It kinda bugs me that it "falls short", because "falling short" of things seems to be a longstanding Philly tradition haha.

This is a 1.2 BILLION dollar - largest building investment in Pennsylvania's history - Norman Foster building. That should, honestly, be where your concerns end. It's going to be wonderful. Stop worrying about insecure manly things like size.