Brandywine Realty Trust generally isn’t in the biz of developing the next Wii U, but for Philly Tech Week, it gave the city a humongous arcade in the form of a decked-out Cira Centre.
Leasing VP Steve Rush says the partnership with Drexel University is a great way to showcase Philly as a hub of innovation. And having Guinness certification for world’s largest Tetris game doesn’t look bad on a resume. The 29-story University City building’s LED display has been used for many occasions since its 2005 opening, and so Drexel professor Frank Lee’s proposal for a giant arcade played well with those capabilities. Tetris attracted hundreds of spectators and several dozen rounds of plays on Saturday night— a big evolutionary step up from Pong, which it showed off at last year’s Tech Week.
It also bodes well for the addition of several more icons to the city skyline. Steve reports that evo (pictured), an 850-bed tower geared to students and developed along with Campus Crest, should be ready by fall, and by summer, groundbreaking will commence on the 49-story FMC Tower at Cira Centre South. FMC will occupy 253k SF, with Penn taking several lower-bank floors and with residential and extended-stay corporate suites on the building’s top half. It’s Brandywine’s vote of confidence in the power of tech’s role in the economy and how it can be more powerful still.
