Plan on the Plaza

by Amy L. Webb

Don't give up hope on One Pennsylvania Plaza just yet.

The site, which used to house the Defender Association of Philadelphia and a parking lot at 17th and JFK, may look like a giant dirt hole laced with some foundation work. But Malvern-based developer Liberty Property Trust says it's still waiting to pre-lease the bulk of the building's office space -- and that a deal may be just around the corner.

We are in detailed discussions with many parties, says spokesperson Jeanne Leonard. There are about 60 leases in the city representing 5- to 6-million square feet of space that are up during the years 2005 to 2007, which is the target time frame for when this building will be completed. The people with whom we're speaking hold some of these leases. It seems like a long time frame and a very long-drawn-out process. But things are moving right along.

Leonard wouldn't divulge the names of any prospective tenants but Comcast Corporation officials say they're considering a move from Centre Square. It would be safe to say that One Pennsylvania Plaza remains on our list of properties we're actively considering, says David L. Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president.

One Pennsylvania Plaza is the brainchild of late developer Willard Goldsmith Rouse III, who ushered Philly into a new era of architecture with his Liberty Place skyscrapers, the Kimmel Center and the Convention Center. In May 2001, Rouse, founder of public real estate firm Liberty Property Trust, unveiled plans for the city's first new skyscraper since Two Commerce Square on Market was completed in 1992.

Developers initially hoped to open the Plaza by late summer 2004, but the region's economic slump coupled with an abundance of existing office space has made luring big-scale tenants difficult.

The office tower, designed by New York firm Robert A.M. Stern Architects, is a 52-story, 1.2 million square-foot skyscraper built with the same limestone as the Museum of Art and will include underground parking and access to commuter trains. It's already being hailed as what might be Philadelphia's very own Rockefeller Center.

We've already done underground site work in preparation for the building, Leonard says. We have a plan, we have the building designed, and we're still tweaking it.

Leonard says that plans are still underway to begin construction and the target completion date will fall sometime before 2007.

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