Charter school pays nearly $14M for former Crown Holdings HQ

Natalie Kostelni Reporter Philadelphia Business Journal
Isaac Newton Foundation Inc., an affiliate of MAST Community Charter School, has paid $13.7 million to buy One Crown Way, the former 238,000-square-foot headquarters of Crown Holdings Inc. in Northeast Philadelphia, according to property records.

The building and its 40 acres were sold by One Crown Properties LLC, which is affiliated with Simone Realty Inc. of Lawrenceville, N.J. It had acquired the property at 12345 Roosevelt Blvd. in 2017 for $9 million.

MAST intends to use the property for a third location and what it refers to as MAST III. It will start out this fall as a kindergarten through eighth grade school and over time expand to include a high school as well, according to the school’s website.

This will serve as the charter school’s third location. Its MAST II school will relocate to 6501 New State Road this fall from the former St. Williams Catholic School, MAST’s original location is at 1800 Byberry Road. A representative from MAST wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Charter schools in the city and suburbs are frequent buyers of real estate and may become an even bigger part of the real estate sector if proposed federal educational funding programs are altered under the current administration. The ability for a charter school to buy real estate was granted by Pennsylvania beginning in 2002. Prior to then, a third party or foundation affiliated with the school was required to purchase any real estate the charter would own. The state began issuing charters in 1997.
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