Fake Tallest US Building Too Tall For CC

A bunch of news stations covered the zoning proposal for the super tall American Commerce Center (slightly edited rendering, above), which would soar to a height of 1500 feet. Brad Maule notes that — in a shocker! — the news stations actually got it wrong, since there are towers in New York and Chicago currently being built that would be taller.

Anyway: Let’s get to the big quote from everyone’s favorite state senator, Vince Fumo.

State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, the Philadelphia Democrat in whose district the tower would be built, called yesterday for an “end to spot zoning.”

“This is totally out of scale with the rest of Center City,” he said.

An end to spot zoning, indeed. Skyscrapers aren’t meant for Center City, silly! (Don’t worry, Comcast, there is no tenant lined up yet. Your tower is probably safe.)

Zoning proposal introduced for “tallest building” [Inquirer]

1,500-Foot Tower Complete With Pool

By now you may have seen diagrams of the American Commerce Center, the proposed 2 million meter 1,500-foot tower for 16th and Arch that will dwarf the Comcast Center and be the tallest building in the country except for the taller buildings currently under construction or planned for Chicago and New York.

My buddy Brad Maule at Phillyskyline has a huge write-up of the ACC which was panned by a crack Will Bunch-hating commenter of Attytood who said that — get this! — somebody who gave the story to Maule because they figured he’d give it a positive review! OMG STOP THE PRESSES!

Anyway, the tower looks pretty dope, even if the people on Livejournal don’t like it because we should be investing that private capital into moon pies and more cops and a giant retractable roof for Rittenhouse Square. We can put a man on the moon…

The edited graphic is from my good friend Emily G., who came up with a plan for what to do when this thing gets built. I have to say, I’m making my preparations already. Even if it’s not a pool you’re supposed to swim in.

1,500 feet of breaking news [Phillyskyline]