A set of new remote work-friendly features has recently been revealed at 2222 Market Street, a 295-foot-tall, 19-story office building under construction in Center City West. Designed by Gensler and developed by the Parkway Corporation (alternately Parkway Commercial Properties), with IMC Construction as the contractor, the building will offer 329,100 square feet of tenant floor area, with 324,826 square feet of Class A office space and 4,274 square feet of retail. Parking for 47 vehicles will be available in an underground garage. The development was built to spec for Morgan Lewis, a major law firm that will use the building as its new headquarters.
Building features will include ten-foot-high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, several outdoor terraces, flexible workspace plans, a conference center, and a fitness center. In response to the ongoing rise of remote work, the project has recently been updated with Zoom conference rooms, custom areas to service visitors from other locations, and spaces with advanced audio technology to facilitate virtual court hearings.
2222 Market Street. Credit: Gensler
2222 Market Street. Credit: Gensler
2222 Market Street. Credit: Gensler
2222 Market Street. Typical floor plan. Looking north. Credit: Gensler
2222 Market Street. Photo by Thomas Koloski
The design team at Gensler opted to soften presence of the tower slab, which faces its broad side toward Market Street, by visually segmenting the facade into three-story horizontal sections, further enhancing the effect with projecting sections. Modules trimmed with gray running bond masonry alternate with all-glass sections, creating an effect of staggered horizontal layers that will imbue the building with a sense of horizontal motion that will play off the traffic movement along the thoroughfare. A trapezoidal floor plan creates a wedge-shaped eastern side that adds further dynamism to the composition.
2222 Market Street. Credit: Gensler
2222 Market Street. Credit: Gensler
The staggered layout offers the added benefit of creating landscaped terraces at the setbacks, which will offer dramatic skyline views to the tenants. A large landscaped deck centered around a glassed-in pavilion will create a veritable oasis in the sky.
2222 Market Street. Credit: Gensler
2222 Market Street rises between South 22nd and South 23rd streets, a block to the east of the Schuylkill River waterfront. Aside from Riverwalk, the already-topped-out building is among the furthest-along of the numerous developments that are rising and planned in Center City West, a sparsely built-out section of Center City that spans roughly from 20th Street to the riverfront and borders onto Rittenhouse Square and Fitler Square to the south and Logan Square to the north. The rapidly developing district is sited directly between the Center City core to the east and University City to the west, and will connect two of the city’s primary business and institutional districts.
2222 Market Street. Credit: Gensler
In a business environment where the workforce is increasingly embracing work-from-home and hybrid arrangements, commercial space proprietors have to compete harder than before for in-office workers, and convenient location is becoming an increasingly important amenity. Equally important for customer attraction are other perks, such as ample sunlight and outdoor space, which 2222 Market Street and a number of its in-progress competitors provide in spaces. However, it is also paramount to recognize that hybrid work arrangements are here to stay and to adjust the office offerings accordingly, as the team behind 2222 Market is currently planning with their latest remote-work package.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Beautiful and very functional building. Hope the law firm thought about including a cafeteria for lawyers and guests to buy lunch and eat outside on the two park locations.