27-Story Center City Building Refinanced For $145M: The Philadelphia Deal Sheet
A gleaming apartment building towering above one of Philadelphia’s ritziest neighborhoods is being refinanced.
Southern Land Co. secured a $145M loan from Affinius Capital for the Josephine, a 27-story building with 255 units at 1620 Sansom St. in Rittenhouse.
The Nashville-based developer spent $24.5M on the 19K SF parcel it sits on in December 2021 and invested $180M to erect the tower.
The building has 32K SF of retail, about 5K SF of which is leased to the Japanese restaurant Uchi. Another 14,600 SF is available on the second floor, which could be used for another restaurant or lounge.
Southern was picky about tenants for this space as it sought to get rents to $3.70 per SF, Vice President Brian Emmons said during a 2023 Bisnow event.
“These fads and entertainment venues and, you know, crazy stuff. I mean, while they're going to pay rent, I don't think anybody wants to live below those types of amenities,” he said.
A Newmark team including Jordan Roeschlaub, Nick Scribani and Samuel Speciale arranged the financing.
SALES
Conshohocken-based CenterSquare purchased the 32K SF Valley Gate shopping center in Warrington from Metro Development Co. A CBRE team including Chris Munley, Colin Behr, Ryan Sciullo, Casey Benson Smith and RJ Mirabile represented the buyer. The firm didn't disclose the price, but the Philadelphia Business Journal reported it was $15.5M.
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Craig Thom and Saam Tashayyod of Trophy Commercial Real Estate spent just over $1M on a 12-unit building at 301 W. School House Lane in Germantown. Thom and Tashayyod carried out the $87K-per-unit purchase from seller Gloria Deguio via their ST Partners affiliate.
LEASES
Industrial Investments has secured tenants at two of its suburban Philadelphia properties.
Oasis Wine & Spirits signed an expansion and renewal for its space at 3103 Phoenixville Pike in Malvern, which brought its new total there to 22,500 SF. Nonprofit One House at a Time inked an 11,300 SF lease at 421 Pike Road in Huntingdon Valley.
FINANCING
Rubenstein Partners secured a $127M refinancing deal for its Chesterbrook office complex at 550 E. Swedesford Road in Wayne. Waterfall Asset Management originated the funding for the complex, which contains 1.1M SF across 14 buildings.
A CBRE team including Shawn Rosenthal, Jason Gaccione, Jake Salkovitz, Justin Helbling, Doug Rodio, Jerry Kranzel and Bruer Kershner helped secure the financing.
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Bridge Industrial landed a $156M loan to refinance its 889K SF, two-building Bridge Point Philadelphia facility. Canyon Partners Real Estate and JPMorgan Chase originated the funding.
THIS AND THAT
Construction has begun on the 34-mile Camden County Link Trail, which will connect the Benjamin Franklin Bridge to the Pine Barrens. Work on the $3M segment connecting Audubon to Haddon Heights began March 8 and will wrap up before the end of the year.
PEOPLE
Robert Mansell has joined Savills’ Philadelphia office as a managing director focused on the Lehigh Valley and the I-83 corridor’s industrial sector. He was previously manager of global tenant accounts at EQT Real Estate.
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Eric Moser has joined Provident as market officer of Northeast industrial development and acquisitions as the Dallas-based firm expands its platform on the East Coast. The new job follows a stint at Logistics Property Co.
