The City of Reading is the largest urban area in Berks County. The city's downtown is a significant center for a range of activities covering offices, government, education, retail, and entertainment.
Office activity is the most predominant and there are more than 2 million square feet of modern office space in the central business district. In particular, banking has a sizeable portion of the market in the downtown area. The most recent additions to this market is a 137,000 sf building at 600 Penn Street, which has become the regional headquarters for Wachovia Bank, and a 130,000 sf building at 5th & Penn Streets, just constructed for Sovereign Bank.
Government operations maintain a high profile in the downtown area. City Hall and the County Courthouse are 1 block away from one another, and collectively account for more than 500,000 square feet of office space. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a 101,000-square-foot building for various regional offices. Similarly, the central business district contains a number of federal offices for the US Bankruptcy Court, Department of Defense, Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, Federal Probation Office, and the Department of Treasury, totaling approximately 70,000 square feet.
The role of the downtown area has taken a dramatic new direction with the new Sovereign Center. This multi-purpose facility seats up to 9,000 people and handles various activities such as conventions, concerts, circuses, sporting events, and expositions. The anchor tenant is a minor-league franchise of the East Coast Hockey League, the Reading Royals, a farm team to the Los Angeles Kings. The Reading Express, an American Indoor Football League team, began play in 2006.
The Sovereign Performing Arts Center is historically renovated venue for performing arts groups like the Reading Symphony Orchestra, the Reading Civic Opera, the Berks Grand Opera, and the Star Series, able to seat up to 1,800 patrons.
Parking needs are satisfied through the 6,000 spaces managed by the Reading Parking Authority.
