The Comcast Corporation revealed plans yesterday to construct a $1.2 billion, 59-story Comcast skyscraper in Philadelphia designed by British architect Norman Foster of Foster + Partners.
At a height of 1,121 feet, the mixed-use tower is expected to be the tallest building in the United States outside of New York and Chicago. According to Comcast, it will also be the largest private development project in Pennsylvania’s history.
The new Comcast Innovation and Technology Center on the 1800 block of Arch Street will be a neighbor to Comcast Center, the corporation’s current global headquarters, topping that building’s height by 150 feet.
Comcast intends to accommodate the company’s growing work force of technologists, engineers, and software architects. It will become home to the operations of local broadcast television stations and local technology startup companies.
The office spaces, “highly flexible loft-like spaces and studios” are “designed for a dynamic way of working—an engine for the city’s evolution as the kind of leading technology hub presently associated with Silicon Valley,” said Foster in a Comcast press release.
“The arrival of the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center makes it perfectly clear that Philadelphia is a premiere U.S. hub of innovation, technology, creativity and productivity,” Philadelphia City Council president Darrell L. Clarke said in the press release.
Comcast is partnering with Malvern, Penn.-based Liberty Property Trust to develop the glass and stainless steel tower, which will include a Four Seasons hotel on the top 13 floors and 2,682 square feet of retail space.
“This is a very special project. It is an opportunity to create a unique and sustainable model for mixed-use, high density development, which uniquely combines spaces for high tech research and development with restaurants, gardens, fitness facilities, and a significant public reception space—a window on Philadelphia,” said Foster.
The project includes an estimated $1.2 billion private investment of with approximately $900 million funded by the joint partnership and approximately $300 million will be tenant-funded interior improvements.
The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center is expected to generate $2.75 billion in economic activity within the Commonwealth and the creation of over 20,000 temporary jobs, as well as nearly 4,000 new permanent jobs within the state and 2,800 new permanent jobs within the city. The project will also produce $30.7 million in annual Commonwealth tax revenues and $21.5 million in annual City tax revenues.
“This new building is a game-changer for Comcast and for Philadelphia,” said Mayor Michael A. Nutter. “A world-class building, designed by a world-class architect, built by a world-class developer for a world-class company, all happening in the world-class city of Philadelphia.”
Set to break ground this summer, the project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2017.
