https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2023/09/21/one-ucity-square-capacity-penn-hotel-development.html
Some tenants at One uCity Square have already settled in and begun undertaking research, while others are anxious for their space to be fit out. At full capacity, tenants and developers alike anticipate the 400,000-square-foot building will foster interdisciplinary collaboration and scientific breakthroughs, something the developer will look to further with future area projects, including a potential hotel addition.
The building at 25 N. 38th St., which opened in January, is now 93% leased. Penn Medicine’s Institute for RNA Innovation has moved in and started conducting research. Come May, it will be joined by Penn Engineering’s Center for Precision Engineering for Health. Combined, Penn research teams will take up 115,000 square feet of space, or more than a quarter of the building.
This spring will mark the first time Penn Engineering and Penn Medicine will have operations under the same roof, Penn Engineering Senior Associate Dean David Meaney said.
Other building tenants include scientific consulting firm Exponent and Massachusetts-based Charles River Laboratories.
One half-floor and two ground-floor retail spaces — likely to be food and beverage concepts — are yet to be filled.
As they approach capacity for tenants in the building, Grady said Wexford will look to “convene a diverse audience, have it be connected to the neighborhood communities” as it relates to the ground-floor amenity spaces. In addition to what will likely be food and beverage concepts, there is a beer garden just outside the building.
Beyond the short-term agenda for One uCity Square, Wexford will continue building out the sprawling campus that stretches from 34th to 38th streets. The includes building out Two, Three, Four and Five uCity Square, though a timeline for those projects will likely depend on market conditions, Grady said.
In parallel with that influx of development, Grady said plans are in the works to build a hotel on the uCity Square campus.
“There is a scale of density that can support that amenity,” Grady said, adding that Wexford would look to partner with a company with experience operating a hotel.
