February 07, 2019

Cordish, Comcast Spectacor plan office tower in South Philly stadium complex

Comcast Spectacor, owner of the Wells Fargo Center sports and concert venue and the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, wants to build a glass-sheathed office tower beside its Xfinity Live! entertainment complex as a first step toward developing the sprawling property under its control in the South Philadelphia stadium district.

Along with development partner The Cordish Companies of Baltimore, Comcast Spectacor, a unit of Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp., has begun seeking tenants for the proposed tower, which will encompass at least 200,000 square feet. Construction would begin once the building is adequately leased, executive vice president Phil Weinberg said in an interview.

Comcast Spectacor, headquartered in an office wing of the nearby Wells Fargo Center, has no plans to itself occupy the proposed $80 million tower, which has been coined Pattison Place, but it has yet to be decided whether others in its “extended family of businesses" might use space there, said Weinberg, who spoke ahead of the plan’s formal announcement Thursday.

Also included in the proposal are 20,000 square feet of street-level retail at the site to the immediate west of Xfinity Live!, which also was developed in partnership with Cordish.

Plans for the tower, which could rise eight or more stories, follow the start of $250 million in renovations at Wells Fargo Center, which include new floors and seating, enlarged corridors, and upgraded windows.

A video prepared to market the office space touts its location among the home venues of Philadelphia’s football, baseball, basketball, and hockey teams, its public transit access to Center City via the Broad Street Line subway, and its proximity to the expanding Navy Yard office and industrial complex and to Philadelphia International Airport.

“Pattison Place presents a unique and compelling opportunity in the sports complex and builds on the continued success of Xfinity Live!," Comcast Spectacor chairman and chief executive Dave Scott said in a release. "We’re looking forward to making additional announcements as our growing neighborhood expands in new and exciting directions.”

Weinberg declined to share details of any other plans for the 47 acres of city-owned land in the area that Comcast Spectacor has the right to develop through a ground lease. Now, the land is used mostly for parking.

Outside Philadelphia, Cordish has led the development of retail, entertainment, office, and residential districts surrounding sports arenas in cities including St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.

Near the Pattison Place development site in South Philadelphia, Cordish also is working on its own to develop the Philly Live! Casino & Hotel  on the site of a former Holiday Inn at 900 Packer Ave.

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