Update to Penn’s building boom
The construction boom at Penn is in full swing, with projects in the planning stages, already under way, or nearing completion from 40th Street to the Schuylkill River.
The projects include the enormous Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine on Civic Center Boulevard, scheduled to open this year, the new Annenberg Public Policy Center on 37th Street, and even an environmentally friendly “green roof,” now being installed at King’s Court College House.
We here at the Current recently checked in with Penn’s Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services to get an update on just a few of the projects that, when complete, figure to change the future of Penn.
The Radian: This mixed-use residential tower, now rising along Walnut Street near 40th Street, is nearing completion and expected to be available for occupancy by the fall.
Designed by Philadelphia architecture firm Erdy McHenry and developed by Inland American Communities, The Radian has already changed the face of Walnut Street.
When complete, the building will include 40,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, a mezzanine level of mixed-use and retail, and 12 floors of student apartments.
The Radian will have 172 units with 500 beds. According to Andrew Zitcer, cultural assets manager for Facilities and Real Estate Services, 90 percent of those units have already been leased for the fall semester.
Neural Behavioral Sciences Building: This facility represents the second phase of the overall Life Sciences facilities project.
The first phase of that project, the Carolyn Lynch Laboratory, was completed in 2006 and is now the home to Penn’s Genomics Institute and additional lab space. The NBS facility, meanwhile, will be home to the departments of Biology and Psychology.
Zitcer reports that SmithGroup—an architecture, engineering, interior design and planning firm with a special expertise with higher education projects—has been chosen to lead the project.
The building is expected to cost about $78.5 million, and will be located between Leidy Labs on Hamilton Walk and the Lynch Labs on South University Ave.
Cira Centre South: Demolition began last fall on the Postal Annex building currently standing on the site where, eventually, Cira Centre South will rise between Walnut and Chestnut Streets. According to Zitcer, demolition continues today.
As one of the centerpieces of Penn’s ambitious Penn Connects plan, the two-tower Cira Center South project will extend Penn’s reach all the way to the Schuylkill River. It is being developed by Brandywine Realty Trust, the same company responsible for the original Cira Centre at 30th Street Station.
Zitcer says the complex’s Walnut Street Tower will include 500,000 square feet of office space, with Penn leasing 115,000. There will also be 12,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and a 300-room hotel. The Chestnut Street Tower will offer 300,000 square feet of apartments and 7,000 square feet of retail.
The project is expected to be completed in 2011.
Originally published Jan. 24, 2008.
