New Comcast Tower to Become Philly’s Second “Vertical Neighborhood”

The Comcast Technology Center, shown here in a skyline rendering, will have residents on its 45th floor.

In addition to 1.33 million square feet of office space, a luxury hotel and street-level retail space, the new Comcast Technology Center now under construction at 18th and Arch streets will have something else:

Full-time permanent residents in three luxury condominium units.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports (paywall) that public records show developer Liberty Property Trust selling three residential units, identified as “RU-1,” “RU-2” and “RU-3,” to a limited liability corporation, FSP Realty.

The units range in size from 3,232 square feet to 7,738 square feet, and all three sold for a price of $976.60 per square foot each. The units will have shared access to a terrace on the 45th floor’s south side, and each unit’s owner can select grasses, surface plantings, a water element and up to three sculptures for a green roof on the north side.

They come with some unusual “homeowners association” restrictions. The most noteworthy gives Comcast control over the subleasing or sale of the units: owners are prohibited from selling, leasing or subleasing their units to anyone who might cause harm to Comcast’s reputation in the company’s eyes. In addition, a Comcast vice president, the company’s general counsel and an attorney at Ballard Spahr must be notified if and when an owner decides to sell.

Anther provision prevents the units from being subdivided, with one exception that requires the consent of all the unit owners.

The building is on track for a scheduled spring 2018 opening.

Secret Sanctuary: New Comcast tower has residential condos (Philadelphia Business Journal, paywalled)