This is great, and a welcome improvement to the look of the 60′s/70′s ish AAA building. Great land use as well, as taller buildings, near transit make so much sense. Anyone aware of any LEED ratings /Sustainability of this building?

great project. now if only there were an El stop in the neighborhood….

http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/forum/philadelphia-transportation-septa/25414-market-street-line-why-no-stop-between-15th-30th.html

There’s no El stop but there is a trolley stop right by there.

Weren’t they going to make the retail space align flush with the facade of the building, as opposed to keeping the overhang?  Will the retail space be accessible directly at street level?

What happened to the colored glass…I liked it and thought it added some nice design elements.  I thought each tower was going to be a separate color…one yellow and one green/blue maybe? 

I heard a premium state store is going in.

Big glass walls, though pretty to look at, offer minimal thermal resistance, so one shouldn’t ever seriously consider this sustainable, though that wouldn’t preclude a LEED rating…

The architect’s website makes no mention of LEED, so it’s unlikely to be certified since LEED is meant to be used for marketing: http://www.varenhorst.com/work/project/2040_market

it’s also a short walk to suburban and 30th st stations

Thanks for finding that out. Bummer. You know, after the positive example of the downtown Comcast LEED-rated  building, I would have thought that sustainability would be sort of built-in to new designs these days. I mean Philly is home to the Federal energy innovation/building design  hub down at the Navy base. 
For all the Greenworks talk from the City- I am disappointed that many new commercial builds still seem rather energy intensive.

I am optimistic about the commercial spaces moving quickly, though there are two existing vacant ones at 17th and Market and at the Murano. My guess about the Murano is that they’d rather wait until a marque restaurant or chef wants it for a new location.

But with all of the new apartment units opening up in the area, you figure some business will see it as an opportunity.

You should check out the plaza across Market Street at Commerce Square.  They are almost done and they just put up the video screen today.  They say that they’ll turn on the screen in about a week.  Cool…

[...] there. But looked at in the context of other office buildings like Two Liberty Place and the AAA Building being converted into residential units in recent years, we have to wonder whether the elimination [...]