"The Provco Group acquired the 32-unit Northwyn Court Apartments at 803 E. Boot Rd. in West Chester, PA from private investors for $3.5 million, or about $109,000 per unit.
The apartment building was delivered in 1971 in the West Chester submarket. It totals 45,000 square feet."
http://www.omegare.com/
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Penn State Pays $3.1M for Vacant Auto Dealership
"Penn State Abington acquired the 20,000-square-foot former Saturn dealership at 1001 Old York Rd. in Abington, PA from Harbinson York Road for $3.1 million, or about $155 per square foot.
The 20,000-square-foot retail building was vacant at the time of sale. Penn State has purchased the building to add a campus location in Abington, in Montgomery County."
http://www.omegare.com/
The 20,000-square-foot retail building was vacant at the time of sale. Penn State has purchased the building to add a campus location in Abington, in Montgomery County."
http://www.omegare.com/
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Philadelphia's City Planning Commission OKs a master plan for the Delaware riverfront
"More than five years in the making, a new master plan for a six-mile stretch of the central Delaware River was unanimously approved Tuesday by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Despite objections from a group representing property owners, the eight commissioners adopted the development plan for the waterfront from Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia to Allegheny Avenue in Port Richmond.
"This area has languished for too long," said Commissioner Joseph Syrnick. "It needs a plan."
The master plan calls for more low-rise buildings, a waterfront trail, better public access to the river, parks every half-mile, and extension of the city's street grid to the water's edge.
About 100 people attended the meeting at the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia, including many from neighborhood groups that participated in the planning process.
Neil Sklaroff, an attorney for the owner of one of the largest undeveloped tracts on the waterfront, said that while much of the plan was "wonderful," it nevertheless would have a "devastating effect" on his client, James Anderson, a Bucks County construction company owner.
Anderson controls 57 acres of waterfront land - either directly or through partnerships - on the northern end of the district.
Sklaroff said the plan, with its proposal for a waterfront trail and extension of streets, would chop up Anderson's two parcels into 13.
"They didn't need to adopt this," he said after the meeting.
As part of the plan, the city would need to invest $770 million over 25 years to upgrade the infrastructure and public spaces along the central Delaware.
G. Craig Schelter, executive director of the Development Workshop, an advocacy group for private property owners along the Delaware, criticized the plan as "overly aspirational."
In a letter he read to the commission, Schelter said there was no "reasonable expectation" that the city could afford to carry out the plan.
He added that the master plan will "impose public access rights on private property without compensation, which is bad planning."
Ninety percent of the land in the central Delaware is privately owned, most of it on the northern and southern ends of the district. Schelter argued that there was "no urgency" to proceed with the master plan.
He argued that it would have been better for the commission to focus on the area between Washington Avenue and Spring Garden Street, where the city controls large tracts of land, including the site of the old municipal incinerator.
By having so many encumbrances imposed by the new master plan, owners will be in "development limbo," Schelter said.
"Why would you approve such a plan when you know you can't afford it?" he asked.
The commission will use it to guide future decisions on waterfront land use. It also will be used as a reference in a remapping of the zoning for the waterfront.
Planning for the waterfront began in 2006. John F. Street, mayor at the time, commissioned Penn Praxis, an arm of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design, to conduct a broad dialogue on what the waterfront should look like.
With unprecedented input from stakeholders as well as neighbors, Penn Praxis presented a "civic vision" in 2008. It called for better public access to the waterfront, restored wetlands, more recreational outlets, low-rise neighborhoods, and no big-box stores or residential skyscrapers.
From that, the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. (DRWC), a quasi-city agency, developed a blueprint for the six miles of waterfront. Last October, all the nonprofit's directors - including Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger, who heads the Planning Commission - endorsed the plan.
Thomas Corcoran, executive director of the DRWC, said a master plan will help development, not hinder it, by clearly setting a direction for the waterfront.
"I fail to see how this has a devastating effect on anyone," Corcoran said.
He said DRWC was already moving ahead on various fronts to advance the vision for the waterfront, including:
Expanding the park at Washington Green near Pier 53.
Studying different potential uses for Pier 9, which is owned by DRWC.
Improving the appearance of Spring Garden Street and Columbia Avenue "connectors" - the public corridors leading to the waterfront.
Expanding a trail from Spring Garden to SugarHouse Casino and its existing waterfront pathway.
"We're establishing the right things at the right scale," Greenberger said.
He added that the master plan sets "a very broad policy statement," but that the commission will be able to make exceptions. For example, if an industrial company needed waterfront property with water access, "we would be required to consider the plan, but we would not be compelled to have it take precedence over other legal issues."
http://www.omegare.com/
Despite objections from a group representing property owners, the eight commissioners adopted the development plan for the waterfront from Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia to Allegheny Avenue in Port Richmond.
"This area has languished for too long," said Commissioner Joseph Syrnick. "It needs a plan."
The master plan calls for more low-rise buildings, a waterfront trail, better public access to the river, parks every half-mile, and extension of the city's street grid to the water's edge.
About 100 people attended the meeting at the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia, including many from neighborhood groups that participated in the planning process.
Neil Sklaroff, an attorney for the owner of one of the largest undeveloped tracts on the waterfront, said that while much of the plan was "wonderful," it nevertheless would have a "devastating effect" on his client, James Anderson, a Bucks County construction company owner.
Anderson controls 57 acres of waterfront land - either directly or through partnerships - on the northern end of the district.
Sklaroff said the plan, with its proposal for a waterfront trail and extension of streets, would chop up Anderson's two parcels into 13.
"They didn't need to adopt this," he said after the meeting.
As part of the plan, the city would need to invest $770 million over 25 years to upgrade the infrastructure and public spaces along the central Delaware.
G. Craig Schelter, executive director of the Development Workshop, an advocacy group for private property owners along the Delaware, criticized the plan as "overly aspirational."
In a letter he read to the commission, Schelter said there was no "reasonable expectation" that the city could afford to carry out the plan.
He added that the master plan will "impose public access rights on private property without compensation, which is bad planning."
Ninety percent of the land in the central Delaware is privately owned, most of it on the northern and southern ends of the district. Schelter argued that there was "no urgency" to proceed with the master plan.
He argued that it would have been better for the commission to focus on the area between Washington Avenue and Spring Garden Street, where the city controls large tracts of land, including the site of the old municipal incinerator.
By having so many encumbrances imposed by the new master plan, owners will be in "development limbo," Schelter said.
"Why would you approve such a plan when you know you can't afford it?" he asked.
The commission will use it to guide future decisions on waterfront land use. It also will be used as a reference in a remapping of the zoning for the waterfront.
Planning for the waterfront began in 2006. John F. Street, mayor at the time, commissioned Penn Praxis, an arm of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design, to conduct a broad dialogue on what the waterfront should look like.
With unprecedented input from stakeholders as well as neighbors, Penn Praxis presented a "civic vision" in 2008. It called for better public access to the waterfront, restored wetlands, more recreational outlets, low-rise neighborhoods, and no big-box stores or residential skyscrapers.
From that, the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. (DRWC), a quasi-city agency, developed a blueprint for the six miles of waterfront. Last October, all the nonprofit's directors - including Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger, who heads the Planning Commission - endorsed the plan.
Thomas Corcoran, executive director of the DRWC, said a master plan will help development, not hinder it, by clearly setting a direction for the waterfront.
"I fail to see how this has a devastating effect on anyone," Corcoran said.
He said DRWC was already moving ahead on various fronts to advance the vision for the waterfront, including:
Expanding the park at Washington Green near Pier 53.
Studying different potential uses for Pier 9, which is owned by DRWC.
Improving the appearance of Spring Garden Street and Columbia Avenue "connectors" - the public corridors leading to the waterfront.
Expanding a trail from Spring Garden to SugarHouse Casino and its existing waterfront pathway.
"We're establishing the right things at the right scale," Greenberger said.
He added that the master plan sets "a very broad policy statement," but that the commission will be able to make exceptions. For example, if an industrial company needed waterfront property with water access, "we would be required to consider the plan, but we would not be compelled to have it take precedence over other legal issues."
http://www.omegare.com/
Theorem Clinical Research, Inc leases 29,000SF and stays in King of Prussia
"Taylor Young of Beacon Commercial Real Estate, LLC is pleased to announce that he has represented Theorem Clinical Research, Inc, in their negotiations of a long-term lease for their new corporate headquarters at Valley Forge Park Place, 1016 W Ninth Street, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.They will initially occupy approx 29,000 square feet on the first and third floors of the 78,000 square foot office building.
Theorem Clinical Research is one of the industry’s leading full-service, contract research organizations (CRO). Before launching in 2011, Theorem Clinical Research operated for nearly two decades as Omnicare Clinical Research under the Omnicare Inc. parent company. A global organization with 1,000+ employees located throughout 27 countries, Theorem Clinical Research provides core CRO services for Phases I-IV, but with niche business units in the areas of technical services, medical devices and pharmaceutics with speed, flexibility and attention to detail to drive a high-quality performance.
“We were really able to help leverage our client and capitalize off a recovering office market that is still offering many concessions for sought after companies like Theorem”, commented Young. “Presently, their existing office is very compartmentalized. Their new office will promote an open office environment that will foster collaboration and at the same time provide room for much anticipated growth.
Theorem will move into their new offices on August 1, 2012. They will be moving from their current location at 630 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
The Landlord is Keystone Property Group.
http://www.omegare.com/
Theorem Clinical Research is one of the industry’s leading full-service, contract research organizations (CRO). Before launching in 2011, Theorem Clinical Research operated for nearly two decades as Omnicare Clinical Research under the Omnicare Inc. parent company. A global organization with 1,000+ employees located throughout 27 countries, Theorem Clinical Research provides core CRO services for Phases I-IV, but with niche business units in the areas of technical services, medical devices and pharmaceutics with speed, flexibility and attention to detail to drive a high-quality performance.
“We were really able to help leverage our client and capitalize off a recovering office market that is still offering many concessions for sought after companies like Theorem”, commented Young. “Presently, their existing office is very compartmentalized. Their new office will promote an open office environment that will foster collaboration and at the same time provide room for much anticipated growth.
Theorem will move into their new offices on August 1, 2012. They will be moving from their current location at 630 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
The Landlord is Keystone Property Group.
http://www.omegare.com/
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Banks, pension funds, taxpayers kick in for Chestnut St. tower
"Signs of life in Center City construction:
Chicago investor John A. Buck and leaders of the union-backed Indure Fund stood under a tent and ceremonially shoveled dirt Thursday to start work on their long-planned 319-apartment tower (plus shops and a parking garage) soon to rise at 2116 Chestnut St.
Buck and Indure, a fund backed by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors' Association's joint labor-management pension fund, each pledged to invest $20 million in the $100 million tower.
Banks led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. are lending Buck and Indure the other $60 million, and Pennsylvania taxpayers will give the investors a $10 million grant when the job is done, in a move approved by Gov. Corbett and his predecessor, Ed Rendell. They needed taxpayer sweeteners, the investors said, because Philadelphia's relatively low rents, combined with its East Coast building costs, don't guarantee an attractive profit margin.
Buck, a Wharton School graduate who founded John A. Buck Co. in 1981, said the tower would be his first development in Philadelphia, and he thanked political leaders for the people's millions: "I love Philadelphia. It's good to be back here. Philadelphia has more of a residential and warm feeling to it than our great city" of Chicago.
"We've been looking for a Philadelphia project with John Buck Co. for years; there was never anything that made sense before," said Jeffrey J. Kanne, president of Indure's advisory group. Up to 800 workers will be active on the job site between now and its scheduled 2013 completion, he said.
Kanne told Mayor Nutter and City Councilmen Bobby Henon and Kenyatta Johnson that Indure was also looking for government help to revitalize dowdy Girard Square, between 11th and 12th and Market and Chestnut Streets. Indure is working with Peter Soens to redevelop the block under a 75-year, $90 million lease with the city-run Girard Trust, which has cited lower investment profits in cutting services to low-income students at Girard College.
Soens and Indure have big plans for the Girard block: They want to lure a Target-style discount store or Giant-style grocery store, a hotel, and an apartment developer. But "that depends on getting money" from the city or another government entity, Kanne said.
Separately, tenants are being sought for yet another Center City apartments-and-retail project, on Brandywine Realty Trust's grass-covered block at 1919 Market St., next to Independence Blue Cross headquarters."
http://www.omegare.com/
Chicago investor John A. Buck and leaders of the union-backed Indure Fund stood under a tent and ceremonially shoveled dirt Thursday to start work on their long-planned 319-apartment tower (plus shops and a parking garage) soon to rise at 2116 Chestnut St.
Buck and Indure, a fund backed by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors' Association's joint labor-management pension fund, each pledged to invest $20 million in the $100 million tower.
Banks led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. are lending Buck and Indure the other $60 million, and Pennsylvania taxpayers will give the investors a $10 million grant when the job is done, in a move approved by Gov. Corbett and his predecessor, Ed Rendell. They needed taxpayer sweeteners, the investors said, because Philadelphia's relatively low rents, combined with its East Coast building costs, don't guarantee an attractive profit margin.
Buck, a Wharton School graduate who founded John A. Buck Co. in 1981, said the tower would be his first development in Philadelphia, and he thanked political leaders for the people's millions: "I love Philadelphia. It's good to be back here. Philadelphia has more of a residential and warm feeling to it than our great city" of Chicago.
"We've been looking for a Philadelphia project with John Buck Co. for years; there was never anything that made sense before," said Jeffrey J. Kanne, president of Indure's advisory group. Up to 800 workers will be active on the job site between now and its scheduled 2013 completion, he said.
Kanne told Mayor Nutter and City Councilmen Bobby Henon and Kenyatta Johnson that Indure was also looking for government help to revitalize dowdy Girard Square, between 11th and 12th and Market and Chestnut Streets. Indure is working with Peter Soens to redevelop the block under a 75-year, $90 million lease with the city-run Girard Trust, which has cited lower investment profits in cutting services to low-income students at Girard College.
Soens and Indure have big plans for the Girard block: They want to lure a Target-style discount store or Giant-style grocery store, a hotel, and an apartment developer. But "that depends on getting money" from the city or another government entity, Kanne said.
Separately, tenants are being sought for yet another Center City apartments-and-retail project, on Brandywine Realty Trust's grass-covered block at 1919 Market St., next to Independence Blue Cross headquarters."
http://www.omegare.com/
Monday, March 5, 2012
Investors Pay $6.8M for Reading Health Care Bldg
"Close Grings Hill Associates LP acquired the health care building at 1020 Grings Hill Rd. in Reading, PA from MBC Development LP for $6.8 million, or about $289 per square foot.
The 23,543-square-foot building is located in the Berks County submarket. It was 100 percent leased at the time of sale."
http://www.omegare.com/
The 23,543-square-foot building is located in the Berks County submarket. It was 100 percent leased at the time of sale."
http://www.omegare.com/
Pittston Distribution Ctr #1 Changes Hands for $4.4M
"Prologis LP sold the Pittston Distribution Center #1 to Endurance Real Estate Group LLC for $4.36 million, or about $15 per square foot.
Located at 301-305 Oak Street in Pittston, PA, the 289,242-square-foot industrial facility sits on more than 17 acres. The property was constructed in 1991 with renovation completed in 1996.
The property was put under contract vacant; however, during due diligence, a new tenant signed a deal to occupy the entire facility. R.C. Moore, Inc. has taken occupancy of the entire facility in the middle of February."
http://www.omegare.com/
Located at 301-305 Oak Street in Pittston, PA, the 289,242-square-foot industrial facility sits on more than 17 acres. The property was constructed in 1991 with renovation completed in 1996.
The property was put under contract vacant; however, during due diligence, a new tenant signed a deal to occupy the entire facility. R.C. Moore, Inc. has taken occupancy of the entire facility in the middle of February."
http://www.omegare.com/
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