-Wind: A wind-tunnel test on a scale model of Philadelphia by the Alan G. Davenport Wind Engineering Group at the University of Western Ontario confirmed suspicions of the structural engineers that a strong northeast or southeast wind could whip around the Comcast Center and slam the new tower's top floors. [41][53][54] Table 31 closed in 2013, amid a dispute among its owners, and was replaced by another upscale steakhouse, named "Chops". [7][32][35][36] The tower tapers inward towards the top and features two cutouts near the top of the building on the north and south sides. [32][35][37], The exterior lighting scheme of the building was designed by Quentin Thomas Associates, and consists primarily of white LEDs color-temperature matched to the fluorescent lights used by the interior. When Rendell was mayor of Philadelphia, David L. Cohen, a Comcast executive vice president, was Rendell's chief of staff, and William P. Hankowsky, Liberty Property Trust's chief executive, was director of Philadelphia's development agency. "The architectural design for this building is very tight – there is no dead space," Blasetti said. [16][18] A report released by the group of building owners opposed to KOZ says the two buildings could cost the city almost US$91 million a year. Comcast Center was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects for Liberty Property Trust. The building features retail and restaurant space and a connection to the nearby Suburban Station. [38] Receiving a gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating in April 2009, the Comcast Center is the tallest LEED building in Philadelphia. [6][11] The architectural model was created by Richard Tenguerian. Another part of the installation displays images of cranes and machinery forming the design of a clock that tells the correct time of day. In 2001, Liberty Property Trust announced its plan to build the 52-story One Pennsylvania Plaza in Center City. Prodraft, who also detailed the winner of the 2017 IDEAS2 award in the ‘Over $75 Million’ category for the Smithsonian NMAAHC, used a fragmenting approach to speed up the fabrication process, dividing the structure into separate models that could be detailed simultaneously ahead of time. The 60-floor building, with a height of 1,121 feet, is the tallest building in Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the fourteenth-tallest building in the United States and the tallest outside Manhattan and Chicago. Originally called One Pennsylvania Plaza when the building was first announced in 2001, the Comcast Center went through two redesigns before construction began in 2005. The Comcast Center's winter garden entrance contains two works of installation art. Comcast Center, also known as the Comcast Tower, is a skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Thanks to the intelligent approach of BIM coordination, steel detailers from Prodraft Were able to anticipate any problems ahead of time by using lightning-speed import/export of reference models exchange with other trades using the Tekla Structures software environment. [30][31] The Comcast Center officially opened on June 6, 2008. This required an enormous number of steel struts in order to maintain the crane. [32] A study sponsored by Comcast and Liberty Property Trust said the construction of the Comcast Center created 17,200 jobs and generated US$2 billion of economic activity for Pennsylvania. Rendell dismissed the claims, saying "Every building owner in town was a contributor to me. The building's exterior features a glass curtain wall made of lightly tinted, non-reflective low-emissivity glass. Also sitting on the beam was a statue of Philadelphia-founder William Penn. [15] In the redesign, the kasota stone was changed to a lighter granite and a short pyramidal roof was added. Even HRPT Properties Trust had leased 70 percent of the space Comcast vacated by 2007. This project was presented during SteelDay 2017, an annual celebration of the structural steel industry sponsored by AISC. [55][56], Skyscraper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, The "Comcast Experience" LED animation display, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), List of tallest buildings in Philadelphia, "Comcast Center Tower Towering Over Philly", "Downtown Philadelphia Roiled by Proposed Subsidy", "Controversial skyscraper will be built in downtown Philadelphia", Steve Hackman conducts his original piece "Elevation", "Liberty Property conducts an over-the-top ground breaking for tower", "Waterless urinals a go for Comcast Center", "Comcast Center Claims Its Place Atop the Philadelphia Skyline", "Comcast Center construction generated $2B in activity, study says", "1701 John F Kennedy Blvd • Comcast Center", "Comcast Center, Phila. Comcast Center was designed by R The statue was replaced and the "curse" ended when the Philadelphia Phillies won the 2008 World Series. The predictions by opponents did not occur mainly because Comcast ended up leasing 89 percent of the building and the offices for the Comcast Center's second-largest tenant, Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, were new to the city. The five dampers – holding 125,000 gallons of water - will act as a countervailing force when the tower sways in the wind. [11], Cable company Comcast had been looking for possible new headquarters space in anticipation of the end of its lease in Centre Square in 2006. Towering over the city at a height of 1,121 feet, it has become a part of American History not only as the tallest building in Philadelphia, but as the tenth-tallest building in the United States and as the tallest building outside Manhattan and Chicago in the US. [14] In January 2004, Liberty Property Trust unveiled a redesign for the building. It designed a split off-center core, or an off-center core divided into two parts. The waterless urinals were part of the plan to make the Comcast Center an environmentally friendly building because they would save an extra 1.6 million US gallons (6,100 m3) of water a year. To do so, Foster & Partners shifted the core to the 19th Street side of the tower’s footprint – what structural engineers call an ‘eccentric’ or ‘off-center’ core. [32][35][36][39] ThyssenKrupp provided the building's 30 gearless elevators, seven hydraulic elevators, and two escalators. The Comcast Technology Center is a "supertall" skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia. Later that year, Governor Rendell released US$30 million from the Redevelopment Assistance Budget to Liberty Property Trust. Comcast Technology Center is the newest skyscraper addition to the Philadelphia skyline. [50][51], Comcast's office space was designed by Daroff Design + DDI Architects and Gensler. Anticipated US$400 million, One Pennsylvania Plaza was to be 750 ft (230 m) and made of kasota stone similar to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. [13] Demolition of the building began in 2002 and ended in 2003. [20], The official groundbreaking ceremony was on March 31, 2005. KOZ designation was intended to encourage development in poor, blighted areas by exempting the tenants of the building from all state and local taxes. [45][46] The installation, designed and produced by Niles Creative Group, premiered on June 6, 2008, and runs eighteen hours each day. - a special safeway freight elevator structure which also rose along with the building, used for transporting people and materials for upper levels of the building. [23][24], A week later, on April 13, Liberty Property Trust sold an 80-percent interest in the Comcast Center to German real estate firm CommerzLeasing & Immobilien AG, a subsidiary of Commerzbank AG. Between the cafe and the building entrance is a choreographed fountain designed by Wet. 16,500 square feet (1,500 m2) of retail space is on the underground concourse while the rest is located on the street level. [49], Comcast is the skyscraper's largest tenant, leasing 1,094,212 square feet (101,656 m2), or 89 percent of the building. A report by the Center City District said if both One Pennsylvania Plaza and the Cira Centre, another skyscraper in the KOZ controversy, were filled by corporations moving from other Center City office towers, the city could lose US$153 million by 2018. The interior design of the offices are designed with a variety of shape and color ranging from the open white space of the upper offices to the colorful walls of the training center. The plumbers union opposed the waterless urinals, claiming they were unsanitary and would provide less work for the plumbers. The building was designed to use 40 percent less water than a typical office building, and the plaza was designed to reduce heat-island effect from the pavement by 70 percent. The newly opened 60-story, 1,121-foot Comcast Technology Center is the latest addition to our vertical campus, joining the Comcast Center, our global headquarters, 2 Logan, 3 Logan and Centre Square, in the heart of Philadelphia. The content of the video includes panoramic views of Philadelphia historic sites, images of space, dancers, acrobats and actors moving around a background designed to mimic wood paneling of the walls of the lobby. Trimble is an international company focusing on positioning-related technology for different industries. [47] Between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day 2008, a holiday video was included as part of the installation. [41] The tower's entrance is a 110 feet (34 m) tall winter garden. The 58-story, 297-meter tower is the second-tallest building in Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania, as well as the twenty-third tallest building in the United States. It is the largest educational and networking function, with events occurring all over the country. [29], Even though the building had not officially opened, Comcast office workers began moving in early December 2007, ahead of the scheduled completion in March 2008. The ceremony, which was held in the building's future plaza, featured the raising of a steel beam to the skyscraper's highest point. Below that are more offices and then, on the 43rd and 44th floors, is Ralph's Cafe, a two-story cafeteria space named after the company founder Ralph J. Roberts. "[16], Chances the bill would be passed ended in November 2004 when House Republicans in the Pennsylvania General Assembly decided not to bring the bill to a vote. How does weight on the tower’s floors find its path downward from floor to beam to column to core wall to foundation and, finally, to bedrock? The statue was there to counteract the 1980s "curse" of Billy Penn, which prevented Philadelphia's sports teams from winning a championship following the construction of buildings taller than the statue of William Penn on top of the 548-foot (167 m) Philadelphia City Hall. Comcast was the only employer in the city with major expansion plans at the time. [37] In 2009 the Comcast Center was awarded the Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence in the Americas category for the transformation of what was once mostly a vacant lot into a transit gateway.[44]. Find help & support articles, chat online, or schedule a call with an agent. In Comcast Center's lobby is the Comcast Experience, which is a 2,000-square-foot (190 m2) high-definition LED screen that has become a tourist attraction.