With a touch of the strings, the Cira Centre rocked the city with its own welcoming tune last night.
The new University City skyscraper officially opened its doors to the public at 6 p.m. yesterday with a grand reception and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
While colored lights danced off the building's glass exterior, the interior was transformed into a giant harp created by a dozen nearly translucent strings stretching from the lobby's floor to the ceiling. The 100-foot brass wires were attached to a harp-like structure and played by a member of Los Angeles-based trio String Theory.
The event included guest appearances by Mayor John Street, Cira architect Cesar Pelli, Penn Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli and CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust Gerard Sweeney. Brandywine Realty Trust is the developer and owner of the building.
Although Cira's snow-white main lobby basks in sunlight on a normal day, the interior was dashed with warm splashes of aqua, purple and red hues for the night. Close-up photos of speakers and musicians were projected across the building's walls.
"Some thought the building was crooked. It's actually not crooked, it's angled," Sweeney said while delivering a speech at the opening. About 250 guests and Cira staff members attended the event.
Sweeney added that Cira's opening brings 825 new jobs to the city, with 675 being "new to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania."
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Penn President Amy Gutmann were slated to be among the evening's speakers, but both were absent from the ceremony. Carnaroli went up to the podium instead.
"This is the first of many visible signs to make University City and Center City come together," Carnaroli said.
Steve Rush, a spokesman for Brandywine Realty Trust, said that the portion of the building's space leased has increased from the November figure of 93 percent. He did not give out the exact percentage, though, saying that the latest figures would be released soon.
Cira's lead tenant is Dechert LLP, an international law firm occupying 220,000 square feet of office space. Dechert moved into the building in late October.
"We wanted this building to be assertive, proud, beautiful, elegant and at the same time simple," Pelli said. "It is everything I had expected of it, and probably more so."
Street said that more architectural achievements such as Cira will come in the near future.
College junior Robert Baldi said that while he feels Philadelphia's architecture is lackluster in general, Cira is "aesthetically pleasing."
