Friday, November 7, 2025
Monday, November 3, 2025
Office Deep Dive: Philadelphia ranks 12th nationally in big-block office availability
By Brenda Nguyen CoStar Analytics
As the nation's ninth-largest office market, Philadelphia ranks 12th out of 15 major metropolitan markets for big-block office availability. The local market currently lists 62 spaces exceeding 100,000 square feet in four- and five-star buildings — enough to offer options for large companies, but still far behind the top-performing cities.
Dallas-Fort Worth leads all markets with 156 big-block spaces, while Washington, D.C., nearly matches that with 154, providing more than twice the number of large spaces available in Philadelphia. These markets and metropolitan areas give companies a wide range of choices and stronger leverage in lease negotiations.
New York lists 123 big-box spaces, and Boston has 104 available, leading the Northeast region.
Phoenix lists 69 spaces, and Seattle lists 66 spaces, both surpassing Philadelphia despite having smaller commercial real estate markets. Chicago also edges ahead with 68 spaces.
Philadelphia's 62 big-box options may attract certain tenant profiles while deterring others. Financial services, law firms and healthcare companies often find the market appealing because of lower rents, a strong local industry base and proximity to top universities.
Conversely, despite fewer space options, the market struggles to attract technology firms that prioritize Austin or San Francisco’s tech ecosystems. Government contractors naturally cluster around Washington's federal agencies, while Boston's biotech concentration pulls life sciences companies despite higher costs. Dallas-Fort Worth's central location and vast inventory appeal to logistics and distribution operations that require a national reach.
Philadelphia’s role in this landscape is that of a budget-friendly alternative, rather than a hub defined by industry focus or a large supply of expansive commercial space. Its appeal lies in affordability, accessibility and institutional strength — distinct advantages in the national office hierarchy.
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Brandywine bets on improving office dynamics with purchase of high-profile tower
By Katie Burke CoStar News
In Philadelphia, office tour activity is on the rise as tenants hunt for larger amounts of space. Brandywine Realty Trust is one firm widening its bet on the market's brightening dynamics with a deal to acquire its joint venture partner's stake in a prominent Philadelphia development.
The real estate investment trust dropped $70.5 million to become the sole owner of the mixed-use tower at 3025 John F. Kennedy Blvd., a property split between office and residential that spans about 570,000 square feet. The Philadelphia-based firm, one of the project's original developers, initially had a 66% stake in the project.
The buyout deal is a small slice of the REIT's burgeoning optimism in the national office market's recovery.
"From an overall standpoint, the real estate markets and overall sentiment continue to improve," Brandywine CEO Jerry Sweeney told analysts on the company's recent earnings call. "Our pipeline activity continues to grow, tour volume remains at very healthy levels, rent levels and concession packages remain very much in line with our business plan and in select submarkets and buildings, and we continue to push both nominal and effective rents."
The 200,000-square-foot office portion of the 28-story building at the heart of the REIT's Schuylkill Yards development finished in 2023, and speaks to the demand Brandywine is seeing for "high-quality, highly amenitized buildings."
The offices are more than 90% leased to tenants including law firm Goodwin Procter and financial services provider Future Standard. The 326 multifamily units spread across the upper levels of the project are 99% occupied.
Brandywine declined to disclose the identity of its global institutional investment partner. The buyout deal, which closed earlier this month, also meant the REIT has assumed responsibility for the $178 million construction loan the joint venture took out to finance the roughly $325 million project. That debt is scheduled to mature in July, and CEO Jerry Sweeney said he is weighing whether to refinance the property next year in order to cut down on interest expenses.
“With the debt coming due, we think we have some positive refinancing outcomes at a very straightforward level,” Sweeney said. He added that the construction loan for the building is currently held to an 8% interest rate. If the REIT decided to refinance, Brandywine could net an annual savings of about $4 million.
Brightened outlook
To be clear, Brandywine is still slogging through some residual pandemic-related impacts that have resulted in declining occupancy and a challenged leasing landscape across its office portfolio. The landlord signed about 343,000 square feet of new and renewal deals throughout the quarter ended Sept. 30, boosting its total leased rate to just shy of 90.5% — a slight but steady boost compared to the same period last year.
Yet the ingredients for a widespread recovery, such as larger spatial requirements among tenants and boosted leasing activity, are pushing a number of the nation's largest landlords to widen their bets on the market's continued improvement.
BXP, for example, has kicked off construction for two ground-up developments in New York and Washington, D.C. Tishman Speyer recently closed its first Manhattan office purchase since 2019. And Kilroy Realty is drawing up plans for its long-awaited Flower Mart development in San Francisco.
Monday, October 27, 2025
Friday, October 24, 2025
Quarry Center in Havertown, PA, co-anchored by Giant and Lowe's, sells for more than $80M
By Paul Schwedelson – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
A 222,500-square-foot shopping center in Havertown with two national anchor tenants has sold for more than $80 million, according to an industry source.
Developer Eureka Ventures traded Quarry Center to Ohio-based Mid-America Management Corp. roughly four months after putting the Delaware County retail property on the market.
The sale price for Quarry Center comes out to more than $360 per square foot.
Buyer Mid-America Management is an investment firm based outside Cleveland with a $1 billion portfolio that includes more than 50 retail, industrial and residential properties.
Quarry Center is co-anchored by a Giant supermarket and a Lowe’s home improvement store, which together make up about 77% of the property’s income. The shopping center was built in 2013 and remains fully occupied by all of its original tenants, including an Xfinity Store, Panera Bread and Chipotle.
The 31-acre property is located at 116 Township Line Road near the intersection of routes 1 and 3.
Full story: https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2025/10/23/quarry-center-sold-lowes-giant-retail.html
Brandywine pays $70.5M for partner’s stake in University City building
By Paul Schwedelson – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
Brandywine Realty Trust has acquired its joint venture partner's stake in 3025 John F. Kennedy Blvd. for $70.5 million, giving it complete ownership of the 570,000-square-foot property.
Philadelphia-based Brandywine originally had a 66% stake in the recently developed building, while its global institutional investment partner owned the balance. Brandywine (NYSE: BDN) declined to name the former joint venture partner. As part of the deal, Brandywine also assumed its share of the debt on the property.
The 28-story mixed-use University City building, just west of 30th Street Station,is split between 326 apartments on floors 10 through 28 and 200,000 square feet of office space on floors two through eight. Shared amenity space is on the ninth floor.
The project's total cost was $325 million, Brandywine reported.
Construction was completed in the fourth quarter of 2023, and Brandywine reported this week the residential portion of the building is 99% leased. The office portion will be 92% leased when anchor tenant Future Standard takes occupancy in the first quarter of 2026. Law firm Goodwin Procter occupies 31,000 square feet in the building.
Brandywine and its global institutional investor partner exercised a one-year loan extension for the property in the second quarter. Following the acquisition of the partner’s equity stake, Brandywine CEO Jerry Sweeney said Thursday on the company’s quarterly earnings call with investors that the firm is considering refinancing in 2026.
“With the debt coming due, we think we have some positive refinancing outcomes at a very straightforward level,” Sweeney said.
Full story: https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2025/10/23/brandywine-3025-jfk-equity-stake-acquired.html
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Rising US office leasing still remains below pre-pandemic pace
By Phil Mobley CoStar Analytics
Leasing volume in the U.S. office market ticked up in the third quarter, according to preliminary estimates, but remains just shy of its pre-2020 norm.
The total square footage leased on new agreements — excluding renewals — is estimated to have reached between 100 million and 110 million square feet, or about 1.2% of inventory. While this marks a modest increase over recent quarters, it still trails the quarterly average of 115 million square feet recorded between 2015 and 2019.
A closer look at the data reveals that small lease sizes continue to weigh on overall volume. For more than two years, the average lease size has been 15% to 20% below its pre-pandemic level. At the same time, the number of transactions has been edging upward and is now nearly 10% higher than before 2020.
One possible explanation for this shift is the limited availability of large blocks of premium new space typically sought by major occupiers. With hiring generally slow, many large tenants appear to be renewing existing leases rather than expanding or relocating into new space.
The recovery in leasing is not evenly distributed across the country. A handful of major cities are seeing activity well above pre-2020 levels. New York leads the nation, buoyed by a strong rebound in office attendance and robust hiring by big banks. Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as Miami, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, also posted strong and accelerating leasing, driven by comparatively solid population and economic growth. San Francisco, meanwhile, has nearly returned to its pre-pandemic leasing pace, as artificial intelligence companies and other tech firms have begun to backfill a glut of sublet space.
In contrast, leasing in several other markets remains well below pre-pandemic norms. Cities such as Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego and Washington, D.C., continue to lag, probably reflecting ongoing adjustments to per-worker space needs and local economic factors.
Despite generally slow hiring and an uncertain economic outlook, the upward trend in leasing volume signals that tenants still have an appetite for office space. However, with the supply pipeline contracting and prime availabilities becoming scarce, sustaining high levels of leasing may prove challenging. Some tenants may find themselves reconsidering space they previously passed over if their needs become acute.
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