Convention Ctr. Expansion Going As Expected

When I interned on the 15th floor of a big office building in Center City years back, we used to eat lunch on the steps of the Gallery at Ninth and Market. Every day, we’d stare out at the Disney hole and marvel at its beauty. Now that the hole has been demolished in favor of a surface parking lot, something’s been missing from Center City.

But never fear! As these webcam photos show, there is a new, bigger Disney Hole-esque plot in Center City: The Convention Center expansion! Yes, the buildings have been down for a little bit now, but it wasn’t ’til today that I realized the possibility for this thing to drag on and on and on and on until the Narcotics Anonymous convention isn’t coming anymore.

Here’s today’s good news:

The Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority has opened the bids for the most expensive phase of the center’s expansion, and a Delaware Valley-based joint venture — the same joint venture that won the phase-one contract with a bid 20 percent over budget — is the apparent low bidder.

Yeah, I know it seems like all that means is the convention center’s going to be over budget, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Photo by It’s Our City, Creative Commons license