Wistar Institute Preleases 3.0 University Place, Bolsters University City’s Westward Expansion

The Wistar Institute, a nonprofit at the forefront of developing new therapies, diagnostics and vaccines for the coronavirus, has agreed to lease 8,000 square feet of University Place Associates’ 3.0 University Place on the 4100 block of Market Street.

The 10-year lease includes options for Wistar’s future expansion. In addition to operating its own Wistar Discovery Center lab within the new facility, the biomedical research powerhouse will also use the space to build partnerships with emerging companies and academic institutions.

“Collaborative research is the only way we will find cures in the future. More collaboration means more cures. This is what the Discovery Center is all about."

The planned, 250,000-square-foot office and lab space development had already secured a 29,000-square-foot lease from nonprofit Ben Franklin Technology Partners, which plans to open an incubator offering shared lab and office space for early-stage tech companies. Lancaster-based Fulton Bank has also leased a 2,250-square-foot space for a new branch on the property’s ground floor.

Wistar’s recent deal puts 3.0 University Place one step closer to breaking ground and achieving its target delivery date of the third quarter of 2021.

The development is one of a handful of projects expanding University City’s locus of healthcare and life sciences research institutions further North and West from their traditional enclave stretching from the banks of the Schuylkill River west to 40th Street.

Earlier this year, Iron Stone Real Estate Partners closed on its $10 million acquisition of the long-vacant Provident Building, at 46th and Market streets, five blocks West of 3.0 University Place. Iron Stone plans to redevelop the property into a public health facility housing tenants including the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Apartment development is also on the rise just west of 3.0 University Place. University Realty Apartments is near completion of its 96-unit 4200 Ludlow. Alterra Property Group completed the 141-unit LVL 4125 on the 4100 block of Chestnut Street during mid-2019, and is planning a larger, 278-unit project one block west at the former site of the long-vacant Christ Memorial Reformed Episcopal Church.

Meanwhile, nearly all of Market Street running west from 30th Street Station to 60th Street is classified as an opportunity zone under the federal government’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which provides long-term tax benefits for new development projects and business located within these zones.

Development of healthcare, office, laboratory and residential development are all gradually gaining momentum west of 40th Street, along Market and Chestnut Streets. This confluence positions these corridors to be among the fastest changing in the entire Philadelphia MSA over the next five years, even despite the coronavirus’ recent shock to Philadelphia’s economy and commercial real estate markets.
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