When it opened in 1974, the connected concrete towers of Centre Square boasted the most office space in Philadelphia, at over 1.7 million square feet.<\/p>\n
Over 51 years later, the Brutalist behemoth still holds that title. <\/p>\n
But probably not for much longer. <\/p>\n
Centre Square \u2014 also known as the \u201cClothespin building\u201d for its four-story pop art sculpture<\/a> \u2014 is slated for mixed-use redevelopment by PMC Property Group and investor and developer Dean Adler, with much of the complex being devoted to hotel rooms and apartments.<\/p>\n \u201cThat corner of West Market is the best corner in the city,\u201d Adler said. \u201cYou get \u2026all the visibility going around the circle. When you look at City Hall, it may not be so nice inside, but outside, it\u2019s a 1904 Beaux Arts building.\u201d<\/p>\n Centre Square\u2019s fortunes sank when COVID-19 struck and have never recovered. At the end of 2025, occupancy stood at 37.6%, giving it the highest vacancy rate in Center City<\/a>, according to Morningstar Credit. <\/p>\n In 2017, when Centre Square last sold, it went for $328 million<\/a>. Last July, the complex was appraised at $104.4 million and is now under agreement of sale to PMC and Adler for less than $94 million, according to Adler.<\/p>\n He says the plan is to retain 500,000 square feet of office space, enough to house the remaining tenants. Then there will be between 250 and 500 apartments spread between the building\u2019s two towers. Three hundred luxury hotel rooms will be built on the upper floors of the east tower, facing City Hall. <\/p>\n \u201cWilliam Penn is in your bedroom,\u201d Adler said of the hotel.<\/p>\n On the lower levels of Centre Square, Adler says there will also be a spa and a 50-meter pool \u2014 amenities that he says the building previously had.<\/p>\n The acquisition of Centre Square is part of a wave of high-profile redevelopments between Adler and PMC, led by its president, Ron Caplan. <\/p>\n In recent years, the partners have purchased and redeveloped the Bellevue<\/a> on South Broad Street, the Battery<\/a> on the Delaware River, and the Bourse <\/a>on Independence Mall. <\/p>\n \u201cIn today\u2019s environment, there\u2019s a real estate crisis, and we are buying these buildings for 20 cents on the dollar,\u201d Adler said. \u201cWe \u2026are rejuvenating architectural gems that are functionally obsolete.\u201d<\/p>\n PMC declined to comment. News of Centre Square\u2019s acquisition was first reported<\/a> by the Philadelphia Business Journal. <\/p>\n More than \u2018an office district\u2019<\/p>\n The new Centre Square is part of a trend in which struggling office buildings<\/a> have sold for less than half<\/a> their previous prices with plans to convert the spaces into homes. <\/p>\n Centre Square\u2019s discount was even deeper: The reported sale price is almost half what it sold for in 2002, not even adjusting for inflation. <\/p>\n The Wanamaker Building, which had over 1.4 million square feet of office space, is another example. Previously one of Philadelphia\u2019s largest office buildings, it is being turned into apartments<\/a> by TF Cornerstone and Alterra Property Group. Only a small number of offices will be preserved.<\/p>\n Supporters say that taking huge blocks of empty office space<\/a> off the market will mean good things for Center City, as apartment leasing remains healthy<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThe office district isn\u2019t only an office district anymore,\u201d said Prema Katari Gupta, president of the Center City District. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s hospitality; there\u2019s increasing residential. What makes a city great is when you have these layered neighborhoods with a lot of different types of demand drivers,\u201d Gupta said.<\/p>\n The partners in Centre Square\u2019s redevelopment have worked together for decades, including on the new Aramark headquarters on the Schuylkill<\/a> and 2040 Market St. <\/p>\n Adler\u2018s longtime business partner, Ira Lubert, with whom he founded real estate investment group Lubert-Adler, is not involved in the project. Instead, the Centre Square project partnership with PMC is being done under the auspices of a new venture, Adler & Co. <\/p>\n Philadelphia\u2019s No. 1 business address<\/p>\n Centre Square spans two towers because it dates to an era when developers would not build taller than the William Penn statue atop City Hall, an unofficial agreement with the city that lasted until the 1980s when the Liberty Place skyscrapers were erected.<\/p>\n Planning for Centre Square began in the mid-1960s, signaling a shift, along with the construction of Penn Center, for Philadelphia\u2019s office district from the Art Deco South Broad Street to West Market Street. <\/p>\n \u201cThose buildings created the momentum,\u201d said Bill Hankowsky, former CEO of Liberty Property Trust, which developed neighboring office skyscrapers like Liberty Place and the Comcast towers. \u201cIt was the biggest single project that said we\u2019re going down Market West.\u201d<\/p>\n Designed by architect Vincent Kling and developer Jack Wolgin, it was seen as a revolutionary project and hailed as Philadelphia\u2019s No. 1 business address in ads in The Inquirer. <\/p>\n Centre Square also bears the architectural hallmarks of the 1960s, like its poured concrete building materials that \u2014 along with its respect for the old height limit \u2014 set it apart from the steel skyscrapers built farther down West Market later in the decade. <\/p>\n The building\u2019s Brutalist architecture \u2014 often a polarizing style<\/a> \u2014 has bedeviled many of its subsequent owners, who pumped millions of dollars into Centre Square nearly every decade since the 1970s to keep it competitive. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is structurally built differently than other buildings on Market West,\u201d Hankowsky said. \u201cIt\u2019s a substantial building, but also it is a tougher building to deal with. The walls are thick, the floors are thick. It\u2019s a big challenge.\u201d <\/p>\n That\u2019s part of what deterred many other developers who considered buying the building. <\/p>\n The sheer scale is a challenge, too. Some interested parties were put off by the percentage of the building that would have to remain office, as a full residential conversion is unlikely.<\/p>\n \u201cThe buildings don\u2019t particularly lend themselves to a complete conversion to apartments,\u201d said John Grady, who used to lead the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. and studied the building for its prior ownership. \u201cThey\u2019re too big, and the floor plates don\u2019t work as well as other buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n Born in drama, considered for Comcast HQ<\/p>\n Centre Square\u2019s birth was not easy. Its planning and construction took almost 10 years, with legal and financial delays that included an investigation of the project by then-District Attorney Arlen Specter. (Wolgin told reporters that the Republican politician was \u201cout to get\u201d him.)<\/p>\n The delays left a yawning vacant lot just west of City Hall, which led Mayor James Tate to describe Centre Square as \u201cdoomed\u201d in 1969. <\/p>\n When Wolgin eventually began construction, he then faced blowback from powerful critics of Claes Oldenburg\u2019s Clothespin sculpture that he wanted to place in front of his towers. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a disaster!\u201d Jack Wolgin told The Inquirer in 2001. \u201cThey said, \u2018How can you take something like this pop art and put it in front of City Hall? It\u2019s a monstrosity! It\u2019s a disgrace!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the building\u2019s polarizing beginnings, it became a mainstay of the office market, attracting one-time corporate giants like CoreStates bank and Towers Perrin consultants. <\/p>\n It snagged Comcast as a tenant in the early 1990s, after the company was forced out of its first urban home by the fire<\/a> that destroyed One Meridian Plaza. <\/p>\n Comcast studied the building as a possible headquarters for the company before eventually turning to Liberty Property Trust to build their skyline-defining towers. <\/p>\n Still, many of its 1960s-era flourishes proved difficult to adapt to the modern era. By the 1980s, the atrium that connects the two towers and houses its inward-facing retail received its first renovation.<\/p>\n Centre Square\u2019s atrium has undergone renovations almost every decade since. <\/p>\n Looking ahead<\/p>\n