If you’ve lived in Philadelphia for decades, you may remember the days before the Spectrum, when the Warriors and then the 76ers played their home games in the old Civic Center, and Convention Hall was home to the Flower Show. When the Convention Center was completed in 1993, the handsome collection of old buildings which included the old Commercial Museum became obsolete. By 2007, the entire complex was demolished.

Old Civic Center

From above

In 2008, the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, located on the easternmost end of the site, was completed. Until recently, the Perelman Center has sat next to a vacant lot… but not anymore. We stopped by the site last week and spotted workers at the tail end of the biggest excavation project ever in Philadelphia.

Looking into the hole

Looking west

New Colket Translational Research Building in the distance

In the next couple of years, this site will be home to a new 500K sqft CHOP Ambulatory Care Center which will sit above a five story underground parking garage. We’ve seen reports that this new building will be only five stories high, but we’ve also heard from other sources that it will be taller. In addition, we find ourselves in possession of a rendering for this project (which may certainly be outdated). We’re holding out hope that the new building will somehow look something like this.

Peering into the future? Or will it be totally different?

Could this be a Pelli Clarke Pelli project? Has anyone out there seen other renderings?

Whatever the building ultimately looks like, we’re just glad to see this large vacant lot finally getting filled in. And hopefully, it will mean better care for the poor sick kids out there.