This Week's Philadelphia Deal Sheet
A weekly compilation of the Philadelphia metro's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email matthew.rothstein@bisnow.com.
Another major block of office space has hit the market in the Philadelphia region.
DLL, an asset finance company based in the Netherlands, is shrinking its footprint at the building it owns on 1111 Old Eagle School Road in the popular Main Line suburb of Wayne due to a permanent adoption of a hybrid work strategy. The company will continue to occupy 84K SF of the 200K SF building, which is undergoing major renovations to what will become shared amenity spaces when work is completed near the end of this year.
The newly available 116K SF is being marketed for lease by CBRE Executive Vice President Scott Gabrielsen. Built in 2000, 1111 Old Eagle School Road sits less than a block from the densely populated corporate corridor of Swedesford Road and a stone's throw from the King of Prussia Town Center, the outdoor, food-focused neighbor to the regional powerhouse King of Prussia Mall.
SALES
Alliance HP has sold a 130K SF distribution center in the Northwest Philadelphia neighborhood of Roxborough to a joint venture of Boston-based The Seyon Group and San Francisco-based Berkeley Partners, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. Alliance, represented by a CBRE team led by Mike Hines and Brad Ruppel, sold the property for more than $20M nearly four years after buying it from a local beer distribution company for less than $7M.
After a 2019 lease with Boston-based craft beer company Night Shift Brewing was scuttled by the pandemic, Alliance leased the building at 401-415 Domino Lane to local food insecurity nonprofit Philabundance, first as a temporary tenant at a deeply discounted rate before agreeing to a long-term lease with the organization.
LEASING
Insomnia Cookies, a food service chain launched out of a University of Pennsylvania dorm room, has leased 26K SF across three floors at One South Broad St. for its flagship "store of the future" and new corporate headquarters. The first floor was vacated when a Walgreens pharmacy location declined to renew its lease. Colliers Senior Managing Director Larry Steinberg represented landlord Aion Partners in the deal, which consisted of three transactions, while Alvarez & Marsal Property Associates Senior Director Dan Bodner represented Insomnia, which currently has its corporate offices in suburban Newtown Square.
CONSTRUCTION
Community-based nonprofit North10 Philadelphia broke ground on Wednesday for a 68K SF affordable housing development at the former Liberty Motel, an establishment locally reviled for renting rooms by the hour and attracting drug and prostitution activity in the Hunting Park/East Tioga neighborhood of North Philadelphia. North10 purchased the motel site in 2018 and plans to build 41 apartments, mostly two- and three-bedroom units, above a 12.5K SF community health center. Most of the apartments will be subsidized through project-based vouchers from the Philadelphia Housing Authority. The adaptive reuse project is scheduled to take a year to complete.
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NorthPoint Development has announced imminent plans to break ground on a 1.1M SF distribution center in the Central Pennsylvania town of Annsville, Real Estate Weekly reports. The building, which is being developed on speculation, is slated to have 40-foot clearance for its ceilings, up to 204 loading dock doors and parking for 308 truck trailers when it is completed, which is currently scheduled for spring of next year. The property comes with development rights for an additional 200K SF under the same roof and is being marketed for lease by JLL's Northeast industrial region team led by Larry Maister.
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Online furniture retailer Wayfair has agreed to lease a 104K SF anchor location at the King of Prussia Mall that had been vacated by JCPenney in 2017, Township of Upper Merion Supervisor Greg Waks announced in a Facebook post. Part of the store's footprint will be devoted to an indoor-outdoor café space, to go along with a 14K SF roof deck. As of now, the store is slated to be the retailer's first brick-and-mortar flagship location when it opens in 2023 or 2024.
