Comcast To Flip Off Philadelphia Skyline With 1,121-Foot Skyscraper

I wasn’t joking when I said the new tower is a middle finger to Philadelphia.

The conversion of Philadelphia to Kabletown continues. Comcast’s relatively new headquarters already dominates the city’s skyline, pointing into the clouds like a giant USB drive. Now comes news that the Lords of Xfinity are set to erect an even taller middle finger to all the people of Philadelphia (myself included) who would much rather have another cable and Internet provider.

Rumors of a second building began to sprout up last fall, with some even whispering that Comcast would be moving its newly acquired NBC operations from NYC to Philly. Comcast denied that it was relocating anyone, but the Philadelphia Inquirer has confirmed that the cable/Internet/TV mega-company will be adding a fittingly large building in a lot adjacent to its existing HQ.

The new building will stand 1,121 feet tall, 150 feet taller than the current Comcast tower and 573 feet taller than the statue of William Penn atop Philadelphia City Hall, which had once been the maximum height of any building in the city.

Because Comcast lives in a 1950s industrial film, the tower will apparently be called the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center. (Science! Industry! World of Tomorrow!)

It will include 13 “sky gardens,” a fancy term for three-story atriums, where the company’s software designers, engineers and product developers will contemplate the universe, and how to wring every last dollar out of people for enjoying it.

Interestingly enough, the top floors of the new building won’t be reserved for CEO Brian Roberts to stand atop while sipping expensive brandy and rich-person-laughing. Instead, these floors will be given over to the fancy Four Seasons Hotel that will relocate to the new tower.

On the plus side for Philadelphia, the construction of the tower will result in jobs for thousands of people both during and after construction.

25% of the building’s 1.5 million square feet of office space will be available for rent to other businesses, so maybe I can relocate a few blocks from my cold, dank cave to a deluxe office in the sky-aye-aye.

Comcast is expected to break ground on its new digs sometime this summer.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist