Groundbreaking Ceremony Held For 'Cira South' Skyscraper in West Phila.
By John McDevitt and Matt Rivers
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Developers are calling it "a vertical neighborhood" -- a 49-story, mixed-use tower planned for 30th and Walnut Streets, near the western bank of the Schuylkill River.
To be called FMC Tower at Cira Centre South, it will be the global headquarters for the diversified chemical company FMC Corporation.
The 730-foot tower will include office space, more than 250 luxury apartments, an aquatics center, and a restaurant-bar.
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All of that will go up with a cost of $385 million. Mayor Michael Nutter said the project is just following recent development in the city.
He said at today's groundbreaking ceremony that the city is headed toward a better economic future.
"The new global headquarters for FMC will put money, of course, into our economy," the mayor said. "But more than that, this building will create both construction jobs and permanent jobs, helping to drive our economy. And it will be very green. The FMC Towers development will be a LEED Silver certification, the new building strengthening our role as the number one green city in the United States of America."
Nutter added, "$7.5 billion dollars worth of construction projects in the last year either completed, under construction or planned an announced."
The adjacent garage will have a one-acre park on top of it, called Cira Green.
The new addition to Philadelphia's skyline is expected to be completed in about two years.
