Brandywine Realty Trust is borrowing tens of millions of dollars to breathe life into a largely vacant life sciences project.
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The REIT obtained $87.3M for the 3151 Market St. building in its Schuylkill Yards development overlooking 30th Street Station, $30M of which will be reserved for future tenants.
Nuveen Green Capital originated the funding administered by the Philadelphia Energy Authority through the C-PACE green financing program. Nuveen touted it as the largest C-PACE deal in the state's history.
The borrower will use the funds to “preserve conventional debt capacity” and make sustainability improvements including envelope, lighting and HVAC upgrades at the 12-story building.
The building completed in 2024 with 495K SF of labs, offices and retail. It is now 4% leased, with Fine Wine & Good Spirits and Starbucks taking up retail space, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported.
“C-PACE provided the right financing at the right time for 3151 Market,” Brandywine Chief Financial Officer Tom Wirth said in a statement. “Working with the Philadelphia Energy Authority affirmed our continued investment in West Philadelphia at Schuylkill Yards.”
Life sciences vacancy reached 7.2% across the Philadelphia region last quarter, which was up 110 basis points year-over-year, according to a report from Savills.
The non-lab component in 3151 Market meant it was also included in the brokerage’s Q4 2025 office report, Savills Research Manager Daniela Stundel told Bisnow earlier this month.
The trophy availability rate for the central business district, which also covers University City and the Navy Yard in Savills reports, fell from 20.7% to 17.4% when Stundel removed 3151 Market from the equation.
Developers have secured a string of big C-PACE deals up and down the East Coast over the past few months.
In November, Pearl Properties obtained $60M in C-PACE funding for the Harper Square apartment tower near Philly's Rittenhouse Square, previously the state's largest loan through the program. The developer paired it with a $113M construction loan.
Earlier this month, Post Brothers secured $465.3M in C-PACE funding from Nuveen Green Capital to help with a $750M office-to-residential conversion spanning 1M SF in Washington, D.C.
In October, Bungalow Projects and Bain Capital also borrowed $156M via C-PACE to build two film studios in Brooklyn, New York's largest-ever loan through the program.
South Florida's largest-ever C-PACE loan came in September, when North Development secured $160M to build a 579-unit condo project. That same month, Nuveen Green Capital provided a $290M C-PACE loan for a condo and hotel tower in Tampa.
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