Monday, November 24, 2025
Friday, November 21, 2025
Long Island real estate firm buys Lehigh Valley's Forks Town Center
By Ryan Cashion Costar
The Cassata Organization, a Long Island-based real estate firm that owns and operates a large portfolio of apartments, diversified its investment focus with the recent acquisition of Forks Town Center, a grocery-anchored shopping complex in Forks Township, Pennsylvania.
The sale of the Lehigh Valley retail center was arranged by CBRE and transacted through Nike Equities, a real estate advisory firm specializing in real estate development and asset management, on behalf of Cassata. The fully-leased center located at 301 Town Center Blvd. measures 112,741 square feet and traded for $25.5 million, or about $254.36 per square foot.
The sale did not include the freestanding CVS-leased building.
Cassata acquired the property as part of a 1031-exchange following the recent sale of an apartment complex. The retail center wsa sold by J.C. Bar Properties, a commercial real estate company based in York, Pennsylvania.
The retail center is anchored by the grocery chain Giant and has Dunkin’, PNC Bank, Fine Wine & Good Spirits and Verizon as tenants
Endurance Real Estate Group sells South Jersey distribution facility
By Holly Polivka CoStar Research
Radnor, Pennsylvania-based Endurance Real Estate Group sold the East Gate Center, a fully leased distribution facility located at 116 Gaither Dr. in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, to Associated Builders and Contractors, a national construction industry trade association based in Washington, D.C.
ABC purchased the building for $17.55 million, or approximately $165.57 per square foot, in what is described by brokers as an owner-user deal. The building is currently occupied by Food Sciences Corp., a contract/private label manufacturer that develops, blends and packages nutritional food products intended to combat the disease of obesity and its related chronic conditions. Food Science Corp. has been located here since 2019.
Built in 1982 ,the 106,000-square-foot building includes 8,105 square feet of office, 13 loading docks and 10 drive-in bays.
Eli Lilly to open shared lab space for fledgling biotech startups in Philadelphia
By CoStar News Staff
Eli Lilly announced plans to open a new Lilly Gateway Labs in Philadelphia, bringing what it describes as a "distinctive model of scientific partnership" to the city that has a sizable healthcare and medical research presence. According to the Indianapolis-based medicine maker, the lab is intended to provide fully equipped space and the drugmaker's expertise to promising, early-stage biotechs.
"By fostering scientific breakthroughs and helping biotechs remove hurdles, we help companies speed the development of life-changing medicines for patients around the world," the company said.
The new Gateway Labs site will occupy 44,000 square feet on the first and second levels of 2300 Market, a new life sciences facility in Center City developed and operated by Breakthrough Properties. The Los Angeles-based developer of life science facilities is structured as a joint venture between Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital. It recently raised $430 million in a second investment fund to back biotech property investments in major life science hubs such as Boston, San Francisco and San Diego.
The new lab facility will operate as a type of coworking/incubator space for biotech firms, providing access to fully equipped wet lab facilities, building amenities, as well as the opportunity for startups housed in the lab to consult with members of Breakthrough Properties' Scientific Advisory Board and Eli Lilly scientists and executives, who will offer "strategic engagement to help accelerate innovation," according to the building's developer.
The space will be equipped with cold storage, centrifuges, autoclave and other equipment used in life science research. On-site staff including concierge service, lab operations and dock management will further support research and development services and business development efforts, while also minimizing participating companies' upfront costs. Building amenities include an on-site café, conferencing space and a fitness center.
"By providing innovative scientists with comprehensive lab space, flexible growth opportunities and ready access to top minds and funding sources, Lilly Gateway Labs at Breakthrough will help reinforce Philadelphia as a hub for life changing discoveries," said Breakthrough Properties Chief Investment Officer Daniel D'Orazi, in a statement announcing the new facility.
"Philadelphia has long led biotech innovation, from early vaccine development to pioneering gene therapy and CAR-T treatments and discovering new approaches to Alzheimer's disease. Today's local biotech scene builds on that legacy with founders tackling medicine's toughest challenges," said Julie Gilmore, Ph.D., vice president, and global head of Lilly Gateway Labs and Catalyze360 Portfolio Management in a statement. "Access to top-notch lab infrastructure is essential, but success for early-stage companies also requires experienced thought partners who understand the science and can help navigate the challenging journey from discovery through early clinical development."
Lilly Gateway Labs joins cell-therapy research firm Legend Biotech as the first two tenants signed in the eight-story building designed by Philadelphia-based architecture studio KieranTimberlake and measuring nearly 227,000-square feet. The new building is located next to academic medical centers at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, as well as number of life science-related firms in Philadelphia's University City neighborhood.
The remaining space in the building offers lab-ready shell space in flexible lab zones that can accommodate a wide range of research uses. Leasing for 2300 Market is being handled by Cushman & Wakefield.
Since the opening of the first Gateway Labs site in December 2019, Eli Lilly said participating companies have attracted more than $3 billion in capital supporting more than 50 therapeutics and platforms currently in development. In addition to Philadelphia, Lilly has Gateway Labs sites in South San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, Beijing and Shanghai.
Thursday, November 20, 2025
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Monday, November 17, 2025
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
AI Company Lease 23,000SF in Philadelphia
By Katie Burke CoStar News
An artificial intelligence company is relocating its corporate headquarters to Philadelphia, proving that sparks from the national office leasing boom have officially landed in the city.
Datavault AI, a data trading company previously based in Oregon, inked a deal with landlord Brandywine Realty Trust to replant its primary hub in the One Commerce Square tower at 2005 Market St. The lease is one of the early indicators that the momentum fueled by demand among AI companies is spilling over from tech-concentrated hubs such as Silicon Valley and San Francisco into other markets.
The Center City lease, finalized earlier this month, spans a little more than 23,000 square feet on a five-year term.
"Our Philadelphia headquarters marks more than a new address, it is a statement of intent," Datavault CEO Nathaniel Bradley said in a statement. The new space will be able to accommodate and support the company's future growth goals, ensuring that "the foundation is now set for our next phase of expansion."
Datavault's outpost in the more than 1 million-square-foot tower is set to house the bulk of the company's development, sales and operations teams, all of which are expected to expand as the company ramps up acquisitions, licensing deals and targets up to $50 million in revenue for next year.
It isn't yet clear when the AI company plans to take over its space in the 41-story tower overlooking the Schuylkill River. A couple of years ago, it signed a deal for 10,800 square feet for its soon-to-be-former headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, an agreement that isn't scheduled to expire until 2029.
Art of some new deals
Explosive growth across the AI sector, coupled with many companies' emphasis on in-person work, has translated into a procession of office deals across the United States that has helped to reshape demand dynamics in many pandemic-battered cities.
Leasing among tech companies rose by more than 21% through the first quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2024, a spike that accounted for just shy of 8 million square feet worth of deals. That activity represented a roughly 16.5% share of total office leasing volume nationally and builds off the momentum tech companies generated last year when they accounted for about 18% of all U.S. leasing.
By comparison, leasing among tech companies represented a little more than 14% of the total national leasing volume in 2023.
In San Francisco alone, AI tenants are on the hunt for about 9 million square feet of office space, up from 6.5 million earlier this year. And AI companies have signed upward of 85 leases in San Francisco so far this year.
The typical deal has averaged about 16,655 square feet, but the average term is just 31 months. That is much shorter than the typical office commitment and a sign that many AI startups are unclear about how quickly they'll be growing — and how much more space they'll need.
That deal structure is now extending beyond the Bay Area, as AI-driven demand is unfurling in markets such as Seattle, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Denver and Austin, Texas.
Beyond the base
Landlords are especially optimistic about the global AI boom, given how quickly many startups are expanding their real estate portfolios by adding office locations or rapidly making existing ones bigger.
Some AI companies, such as Datavault, are starting small. But these companies' spatial requirements have been quick to build as they scramble to keep up with headcount and revenue growth. And while shorter lease terms used to be reflective of tenant uncertainty or caution, landlords now say it's a sign of growth to come.
West Coast landlord Kilroy Realty, for example, reported an influx of demand for shorter-term deals from AI companies. That's not because they aren't willing to commit, but rather because they aren't yet clear on how quickly they'll be growing.
"They're prioritizing that flexibility as it relates to the shorter-lease term because they believe their businesses are going to grow and evolve and they want to make sure that they can have space over the next five to 10 years that's going to meet their needs," CEO Angela Aman told analysts.
To be clear, Philadelphia is far from becoming the next AI hub or reaching a level similar to San Francisco, where the sector has helped rocket the region back to pre-pandemic levels of activity.
Yet the Datavault deal shows companies are both expanding to secondary tech markets or looking to them directly as alternatives to the nation's leading cities. For the now Philadelphia-based company, CEO Bradley said the new headquarters location was chosen "for its access to diverse technology talent, robust infrastructure, and proximity to major financial and academic institutions," all of which come at a significantly cheaper price than if it were to land a spot in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood or Midtown Manhattan.
Rents in Philadelphia's Center City average a little more than $36 per square foot, according to CoStar data. Rents in parts of Silicon Valley, meanwhile, are now climbing to an average of nearly $72 a square foot.
Tuesday, November 11, 2025
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.
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