A new luxury suite at Wells Fargo Center
Comcast-Spectator, owner of Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, will showcase the latest and greatest in parent Comcast’s technology in its current renovation of 82 of the arena’s existing luxury suites. The grand reopening will be just in time for the 2016-2017 Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia 76ers seasons. The budget is $15-18 million.
“The building is 20 years old and we haven’t done any major upgrades to it since it opened,” said John Page, president of Wells Fargo Center. “We’ve done some minor renovations in the past, cosmetic stuff like new carpeting, new furniture, and new TVs, but we decided we should take advantage of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) coming up and really do something special. These suites are going to be state of the art and phenomenal.”
The Wells Fargo Center will play host to the DNC starting July 25 for four days.“The DNC and the Secret Service have already moved in,” said Page. “We’ve had to move 60 employees to another building. The DNC has ripped up seats, knocked down walls. They are turning the current suites into mini TV studios for the media. A huge effort is going into making the arena ready to host the convention.”
“We have been out of the event business since late May and will be until Aug. 20 when Barbra Streisand will perform. Forty of the suites will have been completed by then and the rest will be ready for Adele’s appearances Sept. 8 and 9.”
“We intend to set the tone and tempo for the arena with the new suites and move on from there. When those are done we’ll move on to renovating the club level, balcony suites and the concourse. We’ll also tackle concessions with our partner Aramark.
“The suites will be bigger, wider, longer, and the overall effect will be dramatically different when the people see what’s going to be available,” said Page. “We did a survey among our guests to see what they wanted and we listened.”
Page said new features will include intimate areas for entertaining, upgraded technology and premium seating areas. “Since social media plays such a big part in today’s arena experience, we really wanted to make sure the new suites had top technology installed. We’ve worked with our parent company, Comcast, on this to ensure we have the highest quality on the market today.”
Each suite will feature improved lighting with new LED overhead accent lighting as well as color-changing LED accent lighting. The new configurations will include spacious dining areas, luxury floor tiling, and open air viewing for better sightlines. “We’re removing all the glass partitioning which changes up the entire viewing experience,” said Page.
Page estimates the cost of the new suites to be between $15–$18 million. The architects are SCI out of New York City. The designer is Stadium Consultants International from Toronto. The construction work will be done by Driscoll Construction Company, Inc., based in Philadelphia, with an assist from Structure Tone. Aramark, the food and beverage company vendor of Wells Fargo Center, will also be heavily involved.
“The suite area is critical to our growth,” said Page. “We see this as a real opportunity.”
Interviewed for this story: John Page, (213) 389-9558
