West of Market, Center City multifamily is setting new records with the sale of the 270-unit Edgewater Apartments at 2323 Race St. Sources say that JPMorgan Chase has purchased the property for $114M from Northwestern Mutual. It comes with a 24-hour fitness center and conference room, as well as direct access to the riverfront trails. Additionally, the buyers have approval to build 240 more units. Also included in the sale were 20 townhomes, a five-story parking garage, and a billboard. (Suggested ad: “If you lived here, you probably wouldn’t be stuck in traffic on the Schuylkill.”) HFF, led by Jose Cruz, Andrew Scandalios, Kevin O’Hearn, Jeffrey Julien, and Steve Simonelli, repped the sellers.
East Coast investors are turning to Philly for its favorable cap rates and yields, Jose tells us. (We snapped him at this week's Bisnow Northern NJ State of the Market event in Newark.) Edgewater's optimal location near the Ben Franklin Parkway, walking distance to the Art Museum and Rittenhouse Square, and views overlooking the Schuylkill River make it one of Center City's most desirable Class-A products and produced heavy competition from bidders. Add that to last year's closing on the Granary Apartments, it's no wonder that HFF just opened its first office in Philly. Jose says he is very excited to be working with Zac Pierce and Mark Thomson, who are leading the expansion of HFF's Philly, South Jersey, and Delaware initiative.
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