Doubletree Wilmington Sold for $23.5M

ASAP International Holdings acquired the Doubletree Wilmington at 700 N. King St. in Wilmington, DE from Driftwood Hospitality Management LLC and AGRE US Real Estate Fund LP for $23.5 million, or about $108,000 per key. 

The nine-story, 133,000-square-foot hospitality building was originally built in 1978 and had undergone renovations as recently as 2011. The property is comprised of 217 guest rooms under Hilton's Doubletree flag, and features a concierge and ground-floor restaurant, which the new owner will upgrade. 
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Coachman Manor Apts Sell for $15.9M

T Real Estate Capital purchased the Coachman Manor Apartments at 401 E. Gibbsboro Rd. in Lindenwold, NJ from Goldstone Management for $15.9 million, or about $29,000 per unit. 

Built in 1969, the 690,000-square-foot, garden-style multifamily complex sits on 28.4 acres. The property contains 400 one-bedroom, 135 two-bedroom, and 11 three-bedroom units. At the time of sale, the property was 79 percent occupied. 
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Association Headquarters to Relocate, Expand in Mt. Laurel

by John Jordan staff writer for GlobeSt.com

Association Headquarters, Inc. is relocating operations from its current home at 15000 Commerce Parkway to the 1120 Rt. 73 office building here. The move will expand the association management company’s presence in Mt. Laurel by 9,000 square feet.

Association Headquarters signed the 40,000-square-foot lease deal at 1120 Rt. 73 (1120 Executive Plaza). Officials say the new office will improve the company’s workspace, boost its image and allow for future growth. The company expects to take occupancy of its new space in August.

“With our lease set to expire, the time was right for us to evaluate how we work and implement changes to improve our productivity and our space,” says Robert Waller, president and CEO of Association Headquarters. “We’ve experienced double digit growth over the past few years and believe we can continue expanding at this rate over the next several years…Our new space will incorporate all the best thinking from workplace experts. We will vacate a single-story flex building and relocate to a larger, more prominent building with recently renovated atrium lobby. It will be convenient for our employees and it will give us the flexibility and collaborative environment that we’ve been looking for.”

 “We looked at multiple locations but determined this building met the needs of Association Headquarters’ in a way that the others did not. The company will be in a highly visible location with lighted building exterior signage and monument signage on two major roadways. Brandywine (the building owner) has also committed to installing a new left turn lane on northbound Route 73, which will improve access to the nearby highways.”

Full story: http://tinyurl.com/nlvj7k3

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StoneMor Partners Acquires Nine Funeral Homes

by John Jordan staff writer at GlobeSt.com

Locally-based StoneMor Partners L.P. reports it has signed definitive agreements to purchase nine funeral homes, 12 cemeteries and two crematories from Houston-based Service Corporation International for an aggregate cash purchase price of approximately $53.8 million.

The properties are located in Central Florida, North Carolina, Southeastern Pennsylvania and Virginia, and include approximately 1,140 acres of land, 236 of which are undeveloped. This transaction is subject to closing conditions, including the FTC approval of StoneMor's acquisition of certain of these properties, StoneMor states in its announcement.

"We're delighted to move to the next step of the process we previously announced when StoneMor was named the successful bidder for these properties," says Larry Miller, president & CEO of StoneMor. "The addition of these cemeteries, funeral homes and crematories will facilitate our ongoing national expansion. These are very well run properties which should not require a great deal of up-front investment, but we believe that once we are up and running, in addition to being immediately accretive, we can further enhance the financial performance of these properties."

The cemeteries included in the transaction perform approximately 3,500 interments per year and the funeral homes perform approximately 1,900 annual calls. The cemetery inventories include more than 76,000 developed, unsold spaces, more than 2,400 unsold lawn crypts, 4,200 constructed unsold mausoleum crypts and 4,400 constructed unsold niches.

Upon completion of the acquisition, StoneMor will receive control of cemetery merchandise trust funds with a current value of approximately $18.9 million and perpetual care trusts of approximately $15.3 million. StoneMor will assume merchandise liabilities of approximately $10.5 million and accounts receivable in the amount of $5.7 million.

StoneMor is an owner and operator of 278 cemeteries and 90 funeral homes in 28 states and Puerto Rico.

Full story: http://tinyurl.com/m96v4so

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Coachman Manor Apts Sell for $15.9M

PT Real Estate Capital purchased the Coachman Manor Apartments at 401 E. Gibbsboro Rd. in Lindenwold, NJ from Goldstone Management for $15.9 million, or about $29,000 per unit. 

Built in 1969, the 690,000-square-foot, garden-style multifamily complex sits on 28.4 acres. The property contains 400 one-bedroom, 135 two-bedroom, and 11 three-bedroom units. At the time of sale, the property was 79 percent occupied. 
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$300M Villanova dorm plan gets nod from Radnor Board

Laura McCrystal, Inquirer Staff Writer

Villanova University has cleared a major hurdle in its expansion plans, which include building dormitories on an existing parking lot along Lancaster Avenue.

The Radnor Township Board of Commissioners voted late Monday night to approve zoning changes for the estimated $300 million project, a step that took two years and drew strong opposition from some residents.

Villanova wants to build new dormitories, a performing arts center, parking garage, and campus bookstore. A vocal group of residents has spent thousands of dollars and has packed meetings to fight the plans, which some said would increase traffic and noise while bringing an unwanted urban feel to their Main Line community in Delaware County.

After an initial plan was rejected last year, the university returned with the smaller proposal that gained approval Monday.

Villanova officials said the project would decrease traffic because it would include a pedestrian bridge over busy Lancaster Avenue, where thousands of students now use crosswalks every day. The new dormitories would house nearly 1,200 students who now live off campus and drive to school.

After hearing from residents opposed to the plan Monday night, the commissioners voted 4-2 to approve the zoning change.

"I honestly feel people oppose this because they don't like change," Commissioner Jim Higgins said at the meeting.

"And ultimately, I do believe honestly that this will have minimal adverse impact on people that live near it."

The project could still be years away. Villanova must submit final designs to the township before work can begin. The new dormitories could be open by the fall of 2019, said Chris Kovolski, assistant to the president at Villanova.

Also Monday, the commissioners voted against a proposal to hire an outside planner to review Villanova's plans and a proposal for commercial development at the former Wyeth property on King of Prussia Road.

Some residents concerned about the potential impacts of both projects wanted a consultant, rather than just the township's own planning board, to examine plans.

Full story: http://tinyurl.com/l6f4psp

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Blatstein reportedly buying former S. Phila. casino site

By Jennifer Lin, Inquirer Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA Developer Bart Blatstein is buying for $13 million the site of the derailed Foxwoods Casino project in South Philadelphia, a property he owned 21 years ago, according to people familiar with the deal.

Blatstein declined to comment. Others involved in the transaction say the sale will open up a critical section of the central Delaware River waterfront to the public.

As part of the deal, Blatstein will convey to the Natural Lands Trust, a local land conservation organization, a 100-foot-wide strip of land along the river's edge from Tasker Street to Reed. That will allow the city to continue a waterfront trail across the former Foxwoods site on South Columbus Boulevard, between Tasker and Reed Streets.

The sale of the Foxwoods site also will eliminate a tax bill on the 16-acre property, with the city agreeing to accept $8 million to resolve back taxes. The amount owed in taxes, penalties, and interest was $14 million, but that assessment was based on there being a casino and hotel, which never got built.

"I'm very pleased that this got settled," said Alan Greenberger, deputy mayor for economic development.

Greenberger said Blatstein has not shared his plans for the former Foxwoods site. But he added that it would probably be a mix of residential and retail space.

The city has advocated for extending the grid of streets from neighborhoods to the river's edge to make the waterfront more accessible to the public.

"This has huge potential," Greenberger said.

Blatstein has made headlines recently with his bid to open The Provence, a casino and entertainment complex on North Broad and Callowhill Streets. Tower Investments is one of five groups vying for the second gaming license in Philadelphia.

The South Philadelphia land deal, meanwhile, was part of a protracted and complicated effort to work out lingering issues involving the failed Foxwoods project.

The owners of the land - Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners (PEDP) - won a license in 2006 to build a Foxwoods Casino on the site.

PEDP was a partnership between the Mashantucket Pequot tribe of Connecticut and local investors. The Philadelphia partners included Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider, and charitable trusts for the families of Philadelphia developer Ron Rubin and the daughter of Lewis Katz. Katz is one of the owners of Interstate General Media, owner of The Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com.

PEDP raised money to buy a slot-machine license from the state for $50 million, as well as to pay for initial costs to develop the project. Citizens Bank lent the group a total of $75 million.

But the recession caused financial problems and costly delays. The state's Gaming Control Board revoked the Foxwoods license in 2010 but did not refund the license fee. When Pennsylvania legalized gambling in 2004, the law made no specific reference on how to handle license fees for failed projects.

The partners sued to get their money back in state court, but lost.

With the sale of the property to Blatstein, the partnership expects to file for Chapter 11 in federal bankruptcy court in an effort to recoup the $50 million licensing fee. The filing could take place in the next week, said Brian Ford, a representative for PEDP, who completed the land sale.

Ford said the court would be asked by creditors to "entertain an action against the state."

Any recovered funds, he added, would be applied exclusively to repaying creditors, not partners. The creditors include Citizens Bank, consultants, architects, and lawyers.

"PEDP believes it has valid claims for a return of this fee and that such claims are valuable assets that will benefit PEDP's creditors," Ford said.

The Foxwoods property in South Philadelphia was once the site of a sugar refinery. As large as a city block, the property was assembled by Blatstein in 1993. At the time, he thought he would develop a big-box shopping center.

The deal fell through, but something better came along: gambling.

In 1993, influential politicians were beginning to advocate for riverboat gambling. Blatstein rode a wave of casino speculation. Operators from Las Vegas and Atlantic City were lining up outside Blatstein's door, angling for his land.

A year after spending $8.5 million to assemble the site, Blatstein flipped it for more than $64 million to a company that became Caesars Entertainment.

The profit from that transaction gave Blatstein the financial firepower to become a major developer in the city. His signature development, which Tower Investments started in 2000, was the Piazza at Schmidts rental apartments in Northern Liberties.

Full story: http://tinyurl.com/mvzrjjk

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