Overview
A former corporate tower becomes a light-filled, mixed-use vertical neighborhood, reconnecting Logan Square living, working, and street life.
Opportunity
A substantial existing office tower presented an ambitious opportunity: unlock new value through a flexible mixed-use transformation tailored to contemporary urban life.
PMC Property Group envisioned more than a cosmetic renovation for the former corporate headquarters. The vacant, 24-story tower needed to support residences, offices, retail, and shared amenities within deep floor plates shaped by a central core and structural steel. Its opaque precast façade limited daylight, views, and flexibility, while recessed ground-floor arcades weakened its connection to Logan Square. The challenge was to make the existing structure desirable for new uses today while preserving the ability to adapt its commercial floors over time.
Why This Matters
01
Recover Urban Value
Repositioning the vacant tower allowed the client to unlock a substantial existing asset while adding housing, commercial space, and neighborhood-serving retail in Center City.
02
Make a Downtown Building Livable
The transformation needed to overcome deep floor plates and limited glazing, creating residences defined by daylight, views, outdoor access, and meaningful shared amenities.
03
Preserve Future Choice
A flexible mixed-use framework protected long-term value by allowing office areas to remain commercially viable or transition into additional residential space as demand changed.
FPO Quote
Solution
A radically adaptive façade unlocked the conversion, reshaping an inward-looking office block into a lighter, more flexible tower calibrated for urban life.
Gensler's redesign uplifts the exterior and lobby spaces, creates 13,000 square feet of street-level retail, and adds a 7,000-square-foot rooftop penthouse space. At the top, the façade pulls inward to shorten residential units and create private balconies. A continuous ninth floor balcony marks the transition from commercial space to homes, while transparent storefronts extend to the sidewalk, replacing dark arcades. Above, former mechanical space becomes a two story amenity pavilion with sweeping city views.
Related Content
600K
Existing tower · sqft
13K
Street-level retail space · sqft
2
Amenity penthouse · stories
Impact
Franklin Tower is a resilient mixed-use asset that converts a former corporate headquarters into housing, commerce, amenities, and renewed street presence.
The project turns a once-insular corporate block into an active Logan Square address, layering homes, storefronts, and shared life into the city.
What Changed Because of This
01
Light-filled City Living
Floor-to-ceiling glass, operable vents, and private balconies replaced narrow strip windows, bringing daylight, fresh air, and city views into residential life.
02
Street-Level Activation
Street-level retail and transparent storefronts replaced recessed arcades, giving tenants greater visibility while creating a more welcoming relationship with the surrounding neighborhood.
03
Shared Life
Distributed amenity spaces and the rooftop pavilion turned difficult interior and mechanical zones into places for fitness, gathering, work, and outdoor connection.
One Franklin Tower offers a proposal to re-engage those buildings and bring them and the areas around them new life.
Team
![[NEEDS INPUT: alt text]](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/iexz7ctt/development/35fea1b134c7393ef930ad45774ed68bb7148139-1955x2444.jpg?w=3840&q=75&auto=format&fit=max)