"We are actively engaged in working with potential tenants" for the ACC project, Peter Kelsen, a land use attorney representing the developer, tells GlobeSt.com. "We have a joint venture partner on board and we don't see any issue with financing once we get the entitlements and the tenants signed up. These two aspects are moving forward and have been for quite some time, and look pretty positive. We have not concluded the entitlement stage yet and that's what we're beginning to do in terms of the formal city process. Tuesday's meeting was one prerequisite for that."

Walnut Street in mid-March revealed plans for the project, which is being designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. It would include a 63-story office tower with 1.3 million sf, a 26-story hotel and more than 300,000 sf of retail space above and below street level. The announcement came five months after Verizon's sale of the 1.5-acre parcel at 1800 Arch to Walnut Street, reportedly in partnership with a Washington State pension fund. The site is across the street from the Comcast Center, and last October Joseph Grasso, head of Walnut Street, told GlobeSt.com that the Comcast tower was "deserving of a better neighbor" than the parking lot that had occupied the parcel since 1992.

Kelsen, a partner with the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome LLP, says the reception from the city and community representatives thus far has been "overwhelmingly positive. There are a couple of individuals who live close to the property that have expressed concerns, which we're addressing." These concerns include traffic flow and construction management, says Kelsen, adding. "I would say the vast majority of comments we're getting back are favorable. It's fair to say that the reception we've been getting from the city has been encouraging, and we're pleased by that."