Voila_Capture989World-taker-overers Comcast announced plans today to construct a $1.2 billion, 59-story, 1,121-foot building in Philadelphia right next to the current Comcast Center.*

It will be the largest building in the country not located in New York or Chicago, and the Four Seasons will relocate to the upper floors of the structure.

From the New York Times:

To be called the Comcast Innovation and Technology Center on the 1800 block of Arch Street, the project will accommodate the company’s growing work force of technologists, engineers, and software architects. It will also become home to the operations of local broadcast television stations NBC 10/WCAU and Telemundo 62/WWSI and offer space for local technology startups.

From NBC 10, which, like just about everything else around here, is a subsidiary of Comcast:

Comcast Corp. announced Wednesday that it’s building a new, iconic skyscraper that will redefine Philly’s skyline, create thousands of jobs and shift the city’s image from a Rocky, blue-collar town to a city of innovation that rivals the Silicon Valley.

“It will be a melting pot of talent and people who want to change the world in the businesses that we are in,” said CEO Brian Roberts.

Innovation and change the world is such colossal bullshit it’s not even funny. Comcast, as a company, would love it if the world didn’t change. Sure, they themselves are working on all sorts of technological advances, but at the same time, Comcast-NBC-mega-conglomerate-whatever-the-fucks are among the loudest critics of disruptive services like Aereo, which brings over-the-air broadcast signals to your computer and mobile devices (that case will be heard by the Supreme Court). They’re also one of the leaders in the fight against net neutrality– and they had a big win yesterday when an appeals court ruled that bandwidth providers may throttle or enhance speeds of sites and services at will. This could spell trouble for Netflix, which gobbles up bandwidth, especially because their model very much competes with Comcast’s model of, you know, cable TV. Comcast basically hates everything you love.

That said, it’s nice to see major development like this in Philly, and it will create many, many jobs, and perhaps will turn Philly into a tech center. Maybe. A big, futuristic building can’t hurt.

Now, someone put a fucking William Penn statue on that roof.

*Meanwhile, poor Tim Panaccio can’t use his credit card and Flyers presidents can’t expense strip club trips. Shame.