Jones Lang LaSalle


Philadelphia Science Center Plans $600M Expansion
February 13, 2006
By Michael Fickes, Mid-Atlantic Correspondent

The Philadelphia Science Center, a research park located along Market Street in the University City section of Philadelphia, will break ground this summer on a 1.85-million square-foot six building expansion that will ultimately cost about $600 million.

The first project in the expansion will be a 160,000-square-foot lab and office building with 15,000 square feet of retail and parking for 500 cars. The building will be developed on speculation. According to Paul Garvey, a Cushman & Wakefield senior director in Philadelphia who leases Science Center space, speculative development can be justified by the significant leasing activity in the Science Center submarket. "We've seen about 700,000 square feet of positive absorption in the past two years," Garvey told CPN this morning.

In addition, the existing Science Center buildings (pictured) are 95 percent leased. Growing companies now leasing Science Center space may have to go elsewhere to accommodate growth, he added. The Science Center expansion aims to provide tenants with a reason to stay.
All told, the new Science Center space will more than double the existing 1.7 million square feet of space in the park, which is located along Market Street in the University City section of Philadelphia, between the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University.