Crossing the South Street Bridge last week, it dawned on us that we could see three huge projects from our vantage point on the bridge. Well, it's actually four if you count the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center, but today we'll just look at the three big projects that are happening along the waterfront. Those projects, in case you haven't noticed them, include the FMC Tower west of the river on Walnut Street, One Riverside east of the river on Locust Street, and the first of four CHOP buildings east of the river, on Schuylkill Avenue.
The FMC Tower at Cira Centre South is the furthest along of the three, with glass now covering 80% of the building. We last checked in on this project a little over half a year ago when Cira Green opened, and the progress since then is pretty remarkable. We were surprised to learn that FMC Corporation moved into their office space last month, even though large sections of the building are still under heavy construction. A reminder, the rest of the 49 story building will contain apartments.
Across the river, we see that One Riverside has come quite a long way since we last visited in February. At that time, the frame of the building had only risen a few stories, but now it looks like it's almost ready to be topped off. The glass has started going up on the outside of the building, which will eventually contain approximately eighty condos units. Considering the location right next to an entrance to the Schuylkill River Trail, it's pretty amazing that it's taken until now for this property to get redeveloped. From what we're hearing, the demand for these units has been high even though the building still has quite a bit of work still to go.
Moving to the south, we see that there's also been some serious movement at the CHOP tower on Schuylkill Avenue. When we were here back in January, the steel framing was starting to go up around the cement core of the building and now we're pretty sure the building has been topped off. You can see, glass has also started to go up around the bottom stories of this building, which will eventually house office space for CHOP. A reminder, CHOP has plans for three more buildings at this site in the coming years, so get used to seeing construction around these parts. Fortunately, this first phase will also include a promenade on the South Street Bridge and an extension of the Schuylkill River Trail.
Can anyone out there remember a time when this many huge projects were happening along the Schuylkill River waterfront?