State government offices to move to new Phila. location
On Monday, some state government offices will move to the old Strawbridge & Clothier store on Market Street from the State Office Building at Broad and Spring Garden Streets, which is to be closed this year.
On Monday, some state government offices will move to the old Strawbridge & Clothier store on Market Street from the State Office Building at Broad and Spring Garden Streets, which is to be closed this year.
Twelve state departments will close shop at the Broad Street building on Fridays during the next five weeks and reopen on the following Monday at 801 Market. From three to five departments will relocate each weekend.
By the end of August, 650 state workers will have relocated to the new site.
This is the second round of moves out of the Broad Street building. Last winter, a Customer Service Center was established at 110 N. Eighth St., and 200 state employees were sent to that location.
That center contains the four offices that the state says have the most interaction with the public: Health, Labor and Industry, Revenue, and the Human Relations Commission.
The remaining 12 departments will be housed on the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the old department store. The office space was renovated by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns part of the building. PREIT will lease 224,000 square feet to the state at $20 a square foot.
"As for the remaining space, most of that we're currently negotiating with Foxwoods Casino," said PREIT's director of corporate communications, Shawn Southard. Citizens Bank and city and federal government offices also occupy parts of the building.
The state hopes to close on the $25 million sale of the State Office Building to Bart Blatstein's Towers Investments Inc. by the end of the year, according to Edward Myslewicz, a spokesman for the state Department of General Services. The state has owned the property since 1958.
Blatstein most recently developed the popular Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties. He previously told The Inquirer of plans to develop apartments for first-time buyers out of the 299,000-square-foot office building.
Unable to secure a location large enough to house the roughly 900 state employees originally at the State Office Building, the state settled for the two new locations based on proximity to public transportation and cost-effectiveness, said Myslewicz.
The state projects $30 million in savings for taxpayers over the next 20 years when compared with the cost of renovating the Broad Street building.
State Office Move
Tomorrow: Auditor General; Community and Economic Development; Conservation and Natural Resources; Securities Commission; and Public Welfare (Office of Children, Youth and Families).
Aug. 7: Education; Inspector General; Insurance; and Public Welfare (Bureau of Child Support Enforcement);
Aug. 14: Public Welfare (Employment Training, Equal Opportunity, Financial Operations, Child Development/
Certification, Office of Developmental Programs, County Assistance Office/Management Services, Management Services/Human Resources/Telecom).
Aug. 21: Public Welfare (Philadelphia County Assistance Office).
Aug. 28: General Services; Public Utility Commission; State Police; Public Welfare (Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, Corrective Action Philadelphia field office, County Assistance Office/staff development).EndText
