From the article:
Penn president Amy Gutmann said in an interview yesterday that the
project would help unite University City with Center City and provide
a gleaming "Gateway to the University."
Cira Centre South will also include the previously announced
conversion of the 862,000-square-foot U.S. Postal Service building at
30th and Market Streets into offices for 5,000 employees of the IRS.
The post office conversion and construction of a 2,400-space parking
garage will be the $365 million first phase of the project, to be
completed by 2010. The office and residential towers will follow, to
be completed by 2012 at a cost of about $400 million. The university
has agreed to lease 100,000 square feet of the office tower's 400,000
to 500,000 square feet.
Gutmann said the development would be the first step of the
university's master plan - called Penn Connects - to create athletic
fields and open space, offices, and other amenities for its
burgeoning student and faculty population.
"It provides a much-needed connector between our campus and Center
City, and improves the urban infrastructure of the university and
creates a vital new center of commerce for the whole region," she
said. "It's converting a surface parking lot and eyesores into a
mixed-use, greener, 24/7 neighborhood that unites and enlivens both
sides of the Schuylkill."
Frankus
Sleek. Edgy. Infinitely flexible.
