Commerce Square facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Commerce Square |
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Commerce Square in February 2014
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| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Office |
| Location | 2001-2005 W. Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 39°57′15″N 75°10′27″W / 39.9541°N 75.1741°W |
| Construction started | 1985 / 1990 |
| Completed | Renovated in 2013 |
| Opening | 1987 / 1992 |
| Cost | $ 331.8 million |
| Owner | Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE : BDN) |
| Management | Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE : BDN) |
| Height | |
| Roof | 565 feet (172 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 41 |
| Floor area | 2,200,000 square feet (200,000 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | IM Pei & Partners |
| Developer | Maguire Thomas Partners IBM |
| Engineer | CBM Engineers Inc. |
| Main contractor | Turner Construction |
Commerce Square is a large office building complex in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has two tall, identical towers called One Commerce Square and Two Commerce Square. Each tower is 41 stories high and stands about 565 feet (172 meters) tall. They are built around a big paved courtyard that is about 30,000 square feet (2,787 square meters).
The towers are covered in granite stone. They have special "setbacks" on their north and south sides, which means parts of the building step back as they go higher. At the very top, each tower has two stone diamonds with square cutouts in the middle. These buildings were part of a big boom in office building construction in Philadelphia during the late 1980s. They were designed by a famous architectural firm called IM Pei & Partners (now Pei Cobb Freed & Partners). The project was a team effort between Maguire Thomas Partners and IBM.
IBM rented more than half of One Commerce Square for its main office in the Mid-Atlantic region. The first part of the project, including One Commerce Square, the plaza, and shops, started in 1985 and finished in 1987. The second tower, Two Commerce Square, began construction in 1990 after another big company, Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), agreed to rent a lot of space. Conrail made Two Commerce Square its main headquarters. This tower was finished in 1992, marking the end of the skyscraper building boom in Philadelphia for a while. No other office skyscraper was built there until the Cira Centre in 2005.
In the 1990s, the main companies in Commerce Square started using less space. IBM moved some of its work out of Philadelphia. Conrail was bought by other companies, Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation, and most of its operations left Philadelphia by the 2000s. Despite these changes, Commerce Square was highly praised for its design, especially for having two towers around a central plaza. A famous Philadelphia urban planner named Edmund N. Bacon said the plaza would be "one of the finest commercial projects to be built in this century."
Building History
Commerce Square was built during a time when many new office buildings were going up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This happened in the late 1980s, especially in the West Market Street area of Center City. The project cost about $300 million and was led by Robert F. Maguire III. To get the project started, Maguire hired the well-known architectural firm IM Pei & Partners to design the complex.
In November 1984, after talking with Maguire, IBM agreed to be a partner in the project. IBM also agreed to be the main tenant for One Commerce Square, planning to use about half of the building for its regional headquarters. The plan was to build One Commerce Square first, and then Two Commerce Square later, once another major tenant was found. Construction for the first phase, which included One Commerce Square, shops, restaurants, a plaza, and an underground parking garage, began on June 10, 1985. One Commerce Square was completed and officially opened on October 23, 1987.
In 1987, the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) wanted to bring all its Philadelphia offices into one building. After looking for a new home for two years, Conrail announced in March 1990 that it would rent 27 floors of Two Commerce Square. With Conrail as the main tenant, construction of the second identical tower started in July 1990. Two Commerce Square was finished in July 1992, and Conrail began moving about 3,000 employees into the building in September of that year. Two Commerce Square was the last office skyscraper built in Philadelphia until the Cira Centre opened in 2005.
After the building boom of the 1980s, the 1990s saw many empty office spaces in Center City. In 1993, IBM was facing financial challenges and was reducing its staff. It started moving some of its local employees out of the city. Even though IBM first used almost half of One Commerce Square, by 1993 it was using only about one-fifth of the building. In 1996, the original developers, Maguire Thomas Partners, split up. Thomas Properties Group Inc. became the sole owner of Commerce Square.
Later, in 1996, Conrail was bought by Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation. The merger was completed in May 1998, and Conrail's offices and employees started moving out of Two Commerce Square. CSX Transportation took over Conrail's lease for the space. Between 1999 and 2000, as Conrail moved out, Thomas Properties found new companies to rent the empty offices in Two Commerce Square.
Building Design
Commerce Square is located on West Market Street in Center City Philadelphia. It has two 41-story office towers, each about 565 feet (172 meters) tall. These towers were designed by Henry N. Cobb and Douglas Gardner of IM Pei & Partners. The complex covers an entire city block, between 20th and 21st Streets and Market Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
Commerce Square has a total area of about 2.2 million square feet (204,386 square meters). This includes 1.85 million square feet (171,870 square meters) of office space, a 92,000 square foot (8,547 square meters) lobby, and a large parking garage for 625 cars. The pale-gray granite towers have "setbacks" on their north and south sides. The lower floors are larger, about 33,000 square feet (3,066 square meters), while the upper floors are smaller, about 15,000 square feet (1,394 square meters). The design of the floors, with lots of open space, was influenced by IBM's needs in the 1980s. The two towers are topped with unique standing stone diamonds that have square cutouts in their centers.
The towers are separated by a 30,000 square foot (2,787 square meters) paved courtyard. This courtyard has tables and chairs set around a large, circular fountain made of pink granite in the middle. The plaza was designed by Laurie Olin of Hanna/Olin Ltd. The city planning commission in Philadelphia was so impressed by Commerce Square's plaza that they used ideas from its design in new rules for open spaces in other buildings.
What People Thought
Commerce Square was praised for its design, especially for its two towers surrounding a plaza. The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper said that it created "a real urban place" and showed "great confidence in Philadelphia." The famous Philadelphia urban planner Edmund N. Bacon also praised the plaza, saying it would be "one of the finest commercial projects to be built in this century."
Who Works There
One Commerce Square's main tenant is IBM, which moved into the skyscraper when it opened in 1987. IBM initially used almost half of the building. Over the years, the company has reduced its presence there. Other companies in One Commerce Square include Ernst & Young LLP, Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Fiserv Securities Inc., Thorp Reed & Armstrong LLP, and Delaware Investments. Delaware Investments also has offices in Two Commerce Square.
When Two Commerce Square opened in 1992, the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) used 728,000 square feet (67,635 square meters) of the tower as its main headquarters. After Conrail was bought by Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation, those companies now share about 5,000 square feet (465 square meters) in the tower. Today, Two Commerce Square is a hub for accounting and consulting firms. The largest of these is PricewaterhouseCoopers, which uses 215,000 square feet (19,974 square meters).
Ernst & Young LLP also had offices in Two Commerce Square since 1992, using 115,000 square feet (10,684 square meters) until they moved to One Commerce Square in early 2012. Other related companies include Delaware Investments, which leases 125,000 square feet (11,613 square meters), and Grant Thornton LLP. Other tenants in the tower include Leaf Financial Corporation, Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co., and the engineering firm McCormick Taylor. In 2010, the multimedia company Wolters Kluwer moved into 75,000 square feet (6,968 square meters) on the third and fourth floors, which brought Two Commerce Square's occupancy up to 91 percent.
See also
In Spanish: Commerce Square para niños
