New office tower to rise on Market Street
Update: Second, larger tower on the drawing board for nearby site; 11-story building will mostly house Penn Presbyterian bone doctors, also maybe some start-up firms
New office tower to rise on Market Street
Joseph N. DiStefano
The University City Science Center, a consortium of Penn, Drexel and other institutions that's a major office and lab landlord along Market and Chestnut Streets west of the Schuylkill, says it's ready to start work in September (finishing in mid-2014) on its new 11-story tower at 3737 Market Street (NE corner 38th & Market, corrected) in West Philadelphia, in a joint venture with developer James R. Berens' Baltimore-based firm, Wexford Science & Technology.
The 273,000 sq ft building's major tenant will be nearby Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, which will fill at least 156,000 sq ft with orthopedic and outpatient offices. There's also room for stores, offices and labs. UCSC and Wexford say they also hope to lure some start-up firms to the other 88,000 sq ft. The partners plan to spend more than $15 million on the project. They plan to put the contracting work out to bid, UCSC chief executive Stephen Tang told me. Philadelphia's Intech led construction of 3711 Market next door in 2008-10.
Tang says start-up space in that building filled quickly, with small companies including Integral Molecular and Eli Lilly & Co.'s Avid Radiopharmaceuticals unit. He said 30 smaller firms now share UCSC "incubator" space, and he expects some will be ready to move into their own new building "in two to three years."
UCSC had proposed a higher-rising "gateway" project for the neighborhood before the 2008 economic slowdown. The lot south of Market and west of 38th remains available; it is "the jewel in the crown" and would support a higher tower, UCSC chief executive Stephen Tang told me. "This is one of the few intersections in University City -- or Center City -- that has two lanes of traffic going in both directions; it is a very desirable location."
The group has applied for a "small" RACP matching grant to help fund construction at 3737, but the plan doesn't depend on that money, Tang added.
Architect is Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects with UJMN Architects + Designers. Leasing agent is Cushman and Wakefield. Tang says he'll be glad to have construction cranes working the site next year, which marks the center's 50th anniversary.
If the address is truly 3737 Market St, it would be the NorthEAST corner.
Union labor?— Dunsmore- The fact that eleven stories is defined as a "tower" shows just how small-town Philadelphia really is. Eleven stories is a building, but it is not a tower!— BarbaraM
- Good news.— The Baron
- @BarbaraM- It would have been a tower had union labor not been mandated. Now, they can only build a fraction of a building for what could have been a tower. And this is why Philly will soon be on life support...( Oh, did I mention $75,000 a year trash collectors????)
— cubalaw - Anything over 10 stories is oficially a tower [...]— Capsulef
- I was annoyed by the headline vs. the reality. First, when I think of a tower, I think of a tall building NOT an 11 story building. Second, when I think of Market Street, I think of the commercial core of the City NOT University City.— BobSG
- Thoughtful comments. Some of us are very Center City focused, no? In most of the region, in most of the city, and in an absolute sense, 11 stories is a tower (you don't walk up 11 flights unless you're in training.) And news flash: Market Street crosses the Schuylkill and runs right through West Philly and past 69th Street into Delaware County, with trains over/under it. It's true that West Philly, once you pass PennDrexelPharma and its immediate environs, has been rundown and emptying. But it's also one of the Center City edge neighborhoods that is now growing and attracting new construction, in this case on a vacant lot. A good thing, no?— Joe D
- it coulda been 15 stories for the same price but they had to factor in the union costs— raynesrock
- To Joe D:
"Pharma" which you refer to is and had been for some time the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. I continue to maintain that the headline was a ruse: 11 stories is NOT a tower and Market Street suggests the City's Commercial Core NOT University City.— BobSG - I know what that school is called too, but the name U of the Sciences is so generic people confuse it with that ex-textile school up in East Falls. Pharma remains its heritage and its largest program tho it has also taken on some of the "allied medical professions" especially since Penn cut those programs in the 70s. Sorry to disappoint you but we write about lots of places outside "the City's Commercial Core". Joe D.— Joe D
- "11-story tower at 3737 Market Street (NE corner 38th & Chestnut) in West Philadelphia,"
"Chestnut"??? That must be one huge building, stretching from Market Street to Chestnut Street. (Or else Philly.com needs to re-hire some of its laid-off copy editors.)— Sir John Falstaff - couldn't they find an unused building in the area without spending, i'd guess, our tax money?— ald
- Where do our tax dollars come into this? Are you just looking for something to gripe about?
- There goes the tuition at Penn and Drexel.— rduexpress
