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PHILADELPHIA — Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) plans to break ground in mid-2014 on the $341 million FMC Tower at Cira Centre South in Philadelphia. The approximately 830,000-square-foot building is the final phase of the company’s mixed-use Cira Centre South, a 2.7 million-square-foot development.
The 47-story FMC Tower at Cira Centre South will be the sixth tallest office building in Philadelphia at 650 feet. The property will include 575,000 square feet of Class A office space, 10,000 square feet of retail and 260 apartments. The office component of the project will cost $236 million, while the residential portion will cost $105 million.
Brandywine has already executed a 253,000-square-foot, 16-year lease for the global headquarters of FMC Corp., a specialty chemical company. FMC expects to occupy its new corporate headquarters by June 2016. Additionally, Brandywine has executed a 20-year lease with the University of Pennsylvania for four floors totaling approximately 100,000 square feet at the building.
FMC Tower at Cira Centre South completes the final phase of Brandywine’s Cira South development, which included the $340 million renovation of the 30th Street Post Office (GSA-Philadelphia Campus) and Cira Garage, and evo at Cira Centre South — the joint venture campus housing project under construction, says Gerard Sweeney, president and CEO of Radnor, Pa.-based Brandywine.
“This lease, combined with the University of Pennsylvania lease, brings the office component to 61 percent leased to major credit tenants on long-term leases.”
FMC Tower at Cira Centre South will feature an aquatic center with pool and deck, fitness center, spa and business conference center. The project will also include the one-acre Cira Green, a green space that is an extension of the recreational green belt created by Schuylkill River Trail and Penn Park. Cira Green, which is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2014, will be connected to the tower by a sky bridge.
The design team for FMC Tower at Cira Centre South will include the architectural firms Pelli Clark Pelli and Bower Lewis Thrower. Tactix Real Estate Advisors represented FMC in the transaction.
Brandywine is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns, leases and manages an office portfolio that contains 283 properties and 32.9 million square feet. The portfolio is primarily concentrated in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The company’s stock price closed Friday at $14.26 per share, up from trading at $11.11 a year ago.
— Brittany Biddy