Philadelphia Skyscraper to Reach for LEED Platinum

PHILADELPHIA — A massive 59-story, $1.2 billion skyscraper to be built in downtown Philadelphia will seek LEED Platinum certification, according to developers.

Comcast Corporation and Liberty Property Trust will jointly develop the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center, which will neighbor the Comcast Corporation’s global headquarters. In addition to housing the growing company, the building will also include a new 200-room Four Seasons Hotel and a media center for local broadcast networks.

The building will be designed by Lord Norman Foster of London-based Foster + Partners. The 1.5 million-square-foot glass and stainless steel tower will be the tallest building in the U.S. outside of New York and Chicago.

“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 to Philadelphia,” said Lord Norman Foster in a statement. “At ground level this ‘urban room’ embraces the city; it opens the building to the public and anchors it as a vital new neighborhood. It also links directly into the below-ground public transport system. Above this, the 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."

Foster + Partners has completed several high profile sustainable designs including the Seattle Civic Center and Hearst Tower in New York.

Construction on the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center is scheduled to begin this summer and the building is expected to open in fall 2017.