Friday, June 29, 2012
Dow Chemical moving research to Collegeville
"Taking advantage of vacated drug-research labs and offices about 15 miles away, Dow Chemical Co. will relocate 800 employees in its Spring House campus in Montgomery County to a Pfizer facility in Collegeville.
The plans had been rumored for months, and employees will begin moving in January. Dow, based in Midland, Mich., purchased Rohm & Haas in a highly contentious deal in the midst of the financial crisis of 2009. Rohm & Haas' research labs had been based in Spring House since 1963.
Dow has no current plans to add jobs to the research operation, which is now part of its Advanced Materials division. But Dow indicated Thursday that the new facility would provide room for expansion. Advanced Materials is leasing 750,000 square feet in Collegeville. Pfizer, a global drug company, is maintaining operations in some parts of the facility.
"This strategy bolsters our company's long-standing commitment to Pennsylvania by putting our R&D operations on a long-term path forward," said Jerome Peribere, executive vice president at Dow and chief executive officer of Advanced Materials, which is based in Philadelphia.
The Spring House facility has developed paints, coatings, laundry detergents, water-purification products, shampoo, and conditioners.
Dow chief executive officer Andrew N. Liveris said the Pfizer facility was a "premier new location" and would provide Dow's "world-class researchers with a new collaborative and innovation-centric space."
Advanced Materials spokeswoman Lindsay Torriero said the division's headquarters employees would remain in the former Rohm & Haas headquarters on Independence Mall, a building with gracious Plexiglas chandeliers in its lobby. Rohm & Haas commercialized Plexiglas.
Dow considered several options for its research operation in the Philadelphia area, including modernizing Spring House, Torriero said.
A commodity-based chemical-manufacturing company, Dow has told financial analysts that Rohm & Haas would allow it to develop higher-margin specialty chemicals. Torriero described the Collegeville lease as "long term," but did not disclose the number of years."
http://www.omegare.com/
The plans had been rumored for months, and employees will begin moving in January. Dow, based in Midland, Mich., purchased Rohm & Haas in a highly contentious deal in the midst of the financial crisis of 2009. Rohm & Haas' research labs had been based in Spring House since 1963.
Dow has no current plans to add jobs to the research operation, which is now part of its Advanced Materials division. But Dow indicated Thursday that the new facility would provide room for expansion. Advanced Materials is leasing 750,000 square feet in Collegeville. Pfizer, a global drug company, is maintaining operations in some parts of the facility.
"This strategy bolsters our company's long-standing commitment to Pennsylvania by putting our R&D operations on a long-term path forward," said Jerome Peribere, executive vice president at Dow and chief executive officer of Advanced Materials, which is based in Philadelphia.
The Spring House facility has developed paints, coatings, laundry detergents, water-purification products, shampoo, and conditioners.
Dow chief executive officer Andrew N. Liveris said the Pfizer facility was a "premier new location" and would provide Dow's "world-class researchers with a new collaborative and innovation-centric space."
Advanced Materials spokeswoman Lindsay Torriero said the division's headquarters employees would remain in the former Rohm & Haas headquarters on Independence Mall, a building with gracious Plexiglas chandeliers in its lobby. Rohm & Haas commercialized Plexiglas.
Dow considered several options for its research operation in the Philadelphia area, including modernizing Spring House, Torriero said.
A commodity-based chemical-manufacturing company, Dow has told financial analysts that Rohm & Haas would allow it to develop higher-margin specialty chemicals. Torriero described the Collegeville lease as "long term," but did not disclose the number of years."
http://www.omegare.com/
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Brandywine Realty Trust plans apartments on 3 big ex-office sites
by Joseph N. DiStefano
Brandywine Realty Trust, the Radnor landlord that controls half the high-end office towers in Center City, plans to fill vacant city and suburban space with apartments:
1) "1919 Market, which is owned through a 50/50 joint venture with [Independence Blue Cross] will include 292 market-rate apartments and 55,000 sq. ft. of retail, and is expected to be delivered by 4Q’14," writes Daniel P. Donlan, real estate analyst at Janney Capital Markets, in a report to clients this morning after Brandywine bosses met with investors.
The move accelerates the expansion of residential development into the Market Street office tower district west of City Hall. The vacuum created by weak office demand since the mid-2000s has also attracted the Liberty 2 office-to-condo conversions, the Murano condos and developer Ron Caplan's residential redevelopment of the former AAA insurance building.
2) "At Cira Centre South, which is located in University City (proximate to both University of Pennsylvania and Drexel campuses), management intends to take advantage of the high demand for both market-rate and student housing by building a mixed-use residential development through a [joint venture] with another public company," timetable TBD, Donlan added.
Brandywine's plan for a Cira II office tower (in a tax break zone south of its successful Cira I near its renovated 30th Street Post Office and new parking garage) fell through in the 2008+ collapse, but the company has increased its west-of-Schuylkill holdings by foreclosing on a Market Street office building.
3) "On the Plymouth Meeting site, the REIT plans to enter into a JV agreement for a 400-unit apartment development."
Donlan added: "Additional land parcels in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are currently undergoing planning and zoning for residential, hotel, and mixed-use, or for potential sale."
Office rents in the region are still so weak (stuck in the $20s/sq ft range for high-end space, same as 10 and 20 years ago) that there's little economic justification for new construction (which costs in the $40s/sq ft and up).
But demand for rental apartments in Center City and other parts of Philadelphia is on the rise. Donlan cites three groups of tenants: "empty nesters" who still work in the city or have retired and sold their larger suburban homes; recent college graduates who don't own cars; and, "as people are waiting longer to get married, they are staying in the city longer."
"The continuing diversification of downtown land-use is good for Center City," said Paul Levy, who runs the Center City District, which assesses a tax on downtown properties for sidewalk cleaning and other services the city doesn't provide. "It strengthens the live-work environment, since between 40% to 50% of downtown residents work downtown. It helps animate the streets at night and creates more demand for Center City retail.
Most importantly, the more diverse the downtown has become, the more we have retained real estate values – the assessed value of property within the Center City District, which represents about 22% of the assessed value of all property in the city, has gone up every year during this recession.
"So diversification pays dividends. Now if the City would also start reducing the wage and businesses taxes, there would also be demand for more downtown office space."
The Janney report says Brandywine data projects its office rents will grow around 3%-5%/year in its Philadelphia-area and Texas markets -- an improvement over recent years -- but still face weaker demand in New Jersey, Wilmington, Washington DC and Virginia.
Brandywine is expected to sell about $175 million worth of property this year (including recent sales in northern California) while investing around $84 million in acquisitions (including a deal with Allstate Insurance to buy half a million sq ft of 1980s-era buildings in Silver Spring, Md.)
http://www.omegare.com/
Brandywine Realty Trust, the Radnor landlord that controls half the high-end office towers in Center City, plans to fill vacant city and suburban space with apartments:
1) "1919 Market, which is owned through a 50/50 joint venture with [Independence Blue Cross] will include 292 market-rate apartments and 55,000 sq. ft. of retail, and is expected to be delivered by 4Q’14," writes Daniel P. Donlan, real estate analyst at Janney Capital Markets, in a report to clients this morning after Brandywine bosses met with investors.
The move accelerates the expansion of residential development into the Market Street office tower district west of City Hall. The vacuum created by weak office demand since the mid-2000s has also attracted the Liberty 2 office-to-condo conversions, the Murano condos and developer Ron Caplan's residential redevelopment of the former AAA insurance building.
2) "At Cira Centre South, which is located in University City (proximate to both University of Pennsylvania and Drexel campuses), management intends to take advantage of the high demand for both market-rate and student housing by building a mixed-use residential development through a [joint venture] with another public company," timetable TBD, Donlan added.
Brandywine's plan for a Cira II office tower (in a tax break zone south of its successful Cira I near its renovated 30th Street Post Office and new parking garage) fell through in the 2008+ collapse, but the company has increased its west-of-Schuylkill holdings by foreclosing on a Market Street office building.
3) "On the Plymouth Meeting site, the REIT plans to enter into a JV agreement for a 400-unit apartment development."
Donlan added: "Additional land parcels in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are currently undergoing planning and zoning for residential, hotel, and mixed-use, or for potential sale."
Office rents in the region are still so weak (stuck in the $20s/sq ft range for high-end space, same as 10 and 20 years ago) that there's little economic justification for new construction (which costs in the $40s/sq ft and up).
But demand for rental apartments in Center City and other parts of Philadelphia is on the rise. Donlan cites three groups of tenants: "empty nesters" who still work in the city or have retired and sold their larger suburban homes; recent college graduates who don't own cars; and, "as people are waiting longer to get married, they are staying in the city longer."
"The continuing diversification of downtown land-use is good for Center City," said Paul Levy, who runs the Center City District, which assesses a tax on downtown properties for sidewalk cleaning and other services the city doesn't provide. "It strengthens the live-work environment, since between 40% to 50% of downtown residents work downtown. It helps animate the streets at night and creates more demand for Center City retail.
Most importantly, the more diverse the downtown has become, the more we have retained real estate values – the assessed value of property within the Center City District, which represents about 22% of the assessed value of all property in the city, has gone up every year during this recession.
"So diversification pays dividends. Now if the City would also start reducing the wage and businesses taxes, there would also be demand for more downtown office space."
The Janney report says Brandywine data projects its office rents will grow around 3%-5%/year in its Philadelphia-area and Texas markets -- an improvement over recent years -- but still face weaker demand in New Jersey, Wilmington, Washington DC and Virginia.
Brandywine is expected to sell about $175 million worth of property this year (including recent sales in northern California) while investing around $84 million in acquisitions (including a deal with Allstate Insurance to buy half a million sq ft of 1980s-era buildings in Silver Spring, Md.)
http://www.omegare.com/
Monday, June 25, 2012
Featured Listing 2,000sf Conshohocken Office Sublease!!!
We have a new 2,000sf office sublease in the Spring Mill Corporate Center, 1100 E. Hector St, Conshohocken, PA 19428. This is immediately available. It has 4 offices, a reception area, kitchenette, IT closet, open area for conference table or cubes. This has a great natural light window line. Spring Mill Corporate Center is right off of the SEPTA R6 line and across the street from a 360 unit brand new apartment complex. Flyer: http://omegare.com/OMEGA-Sublease-SpringMill.pdf or click the pic. Call (610) 616-4604 or jodonnell@omegare.com
Tech employer quits KofP for Conshy tower
by Joseph N. DiStefano
"NextDocs, the growing pharmaceutical clinical-testing compliance software company founded by Microsoft veteran Zikria Syed nine years ago, is leaving its offices at Brandywine Real Estate Trust's 500 North Gulph Rd., King of Prussia and moving with around 100 employees to 30,000 sq ft at Oliver Tyrone Pulver Corp.'s Six Tower Bridge in Conshohocken.
"NextDocs chose the property due to its centrallized location" closer to Philadelphia and the "live-work-play lifestyle" the building offers, as well as "the quality of the building."
NextDocs employs 126, including 85 at the headquarters. The company is hiring and expects to boost total employment to 160 by year's end, says spokesman Matt McLoughlin."
http://www.omegare.com/
Friday, June 22, 2012
Sprawling warehouses proposed in Upper Macungie
"A commercial real estate company that has been selling suburban offices and investing in industrial property wants to build two sprawling warehouses in Upper Macungie, its latest projects in a recent Lehigh Valley building spree.
Officials with Liberty Property Trust went before the Upper Macungie Township Planning Commission Wednesday night to propose building two 1-million-square-foot warehouses on more than 200 acres on the Air Products campus off of Mill Creek Road. Who would occupy the buildings has yet to be determined.
Based in Malvern, Liberty Property Trust owns 595 industrial and office properties totaling 65.1 million square feet, including several industrial properties in the Lehigh Valley. The company has been on a speculative building spree in the Valley, beginning projects before it has tenants lined up.
Such speculative construction has been rare since the Great Recession hit, since commercial property owners struggled to keep properties full and didn't want to add space in a soft market.
But Liberty has launched an aggressive building campaign. The Upper Macungie projects come on the heels of new warehouses in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII in Bethlehem.
Pete Reinke, vice president of regional development at Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., said commercial landlords have to build properties before they have tenants because companies have to make decisions quickly about where to locate. Prospective tenants can't wait several months to a year for a building to be constructed, he said. They want to know what is immediately available.
Ken Molony, director of community development for Upper Macungie Township, said Liberty Property representatives, who presented a sketch plan Wednesday, could not say how much traffic the warehouses are expected to generate.
"The biggest hurdle will be solving the traffic issues," said Molony, adding that the project is in its early stages. "No one knows yet what kind of traffic impact it would bring."
Liberty has been shedding office space and investing in industrial properties. In April, the company sold for $49 properties for $195 million, mostly office buildings, in Wisconsin, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey."
http://www.omegare.com/
Officials with Liberty Property Trust went before the Upper Macungie Township Planning Commission Wednesday night to propose building two 1-million-square-foot warehouses on more than 200 acres on the Air Products campus off of Mill Creek Road. Who would occupy the buildings has yet to be determined.
Based in Malvern, Liberty Property Trust owns 595 industrial and office properties totaling 65.1 million square feet, including several industrial properties in the Lehigh Valley. The company has been on a speculative building spree in the Valley, beginning projects before it has tenants lined up.
Such speculative construction has been rare since the Great Recession hit, since commercial property owners struggled to keep properties full and didn't want to add space in a soft market.
But Liberty has launched an aggressive building campaign. The Upper Macungie projects come on the heels of new warehouses in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII in Bethlehem.
Pete Reinke, vice president of regional development at Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., said commercial landlords have to build properties before they have tenants because companies have to make decisions quickly about where to locate. Prospective tenants can't wait several months to a year for a building to be constructed, he said. They want to know what is immediately available.
Ken Molony, director of community development for Upper Macungie Township, said Liberty Property representatives, who presented a sketch plan Wednesday, could not say how much traffic the warehouses are expected to generate.
"The biggest hurdle will be solving the traffic issues," said Molony, adding that the project is in its early stages. "No one knows yet what kind of traffic impact it would bring."
Liberty has been shedding office space and investing in industrial properties. In April, the company sold for $49 properties for $195 million, mostly office buildings, in Wisconsin, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey."
http://www.omegare.com/
Wawa store, Chick-Fil-A approved by the supervisors for DeKalb Pike
"A proposed super Wawa convenience store with 16 gasoline pumps and an adjacent Chick-Fil-A restaurant was approved Thursday night by the Board of Supervisors in a 4-to-0 vote.
Supervisor Gregory Philips was absent.
The plans were first submitted in July 2011 by Goodman Properties for the 4.1-acre parcel at 145 W. DeKalb Pike. It is currently occupied by a former Petco building.
A ‘partial’ traffic light at the driveway entrance and two upgraded traffic lights on South Henderson Road at the intersections of Monroe Boulevard and Saulin Boulevard will be installed. The entrance traffic light will allow in-bound left turns into the driveway.
The Wawa building will have 8,601 square feet and eight islands with 16 gasoline pumps. The 142-seat, Chick-Fil-A building will have 4,864-square-foot with a drive-thru window, two ordering stations and outdoor seating on the northern side of the property.
Township Planner Robert Loeper said the Zoning Hearing Board had granted several variances. Attorney Robert Kerns, representing Goodman Properties, said the firm had agreed to all the township conditions.
“Clearly the greatest issue was traffic and access. There will be a partial signal allowing entrance into the site that can be expanded into a full signal later,” Loeper said. “The parking will conform to code regulations. This is a review that has taken a great deal of time.”
In a July 15, 2011 decision, the Zoning Hearing Board granted variances to allow gasoline sales in the C-1 district, 143 parking spaces and 591-square-feet of signs when the maximum allowed was 200-square-feet. On Aug. 3, 2011, the zoning board allowed an additional common sign for four adjacent properties including Wawa and Chick-Fil-A.
Solicitor Joseph McGrory Jr. said that the approval was made contingent on the Upper Merion Township Transportation Authority determining the amount of the Highway Traffic Capital Improvement Assessment Agreement fee. The traffic impact fee will be based on 421 new “p.m. peak hour” trips” minus reductions for new pass-by trips, according to the resolution.
A building permit will not be issued until the traffic impact fee has been agreed to by Goodman Properties.
Supervisors’ Chairwoman Erica Spott said, “I think we came to a better plan.”
“This is a very challenging property. We have to go into this knowing that this is going to be a tight project,” said Supervisor William Jenaway, “and that the signage will generate more lighting.”
Supervisor Greg Waks asked the developer when the project would begin and when it would be completed
Bruce Goodman, the owner of Goodman Properties, said the project could be complete within a year.
During public comment resident Terry Kelly said, “I’m hearing this is a half light but you recognize that you need a full traffic light? You should have a full light first.”
Spott replied, “PennDOT (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) is agreeable with a half traffic light. We will watch the traffic generated by this. This board shares that concern. We had many meetings about our concerns. Route 202 is a state highway and we have no option but to deal with PennDOT. We will have to go back to them within three years. It is going to be a challenging area.”
Supervisor Carole Kenney said that PennDOT officials did not want to allow any traffic light at the initial meetings.
“We will have traffic studies and we will go back later to PennDOT,” Kenney said.
A $2,693 fee will be made in lieu of dedication for the required open space for the project. Six waivers for the location of landscaping were granted by the board."
http://www.omegare.com/
Supervisor Gregory Philips was absent.
The plans were first submitted in July 2011 by Goodman Properties for the 4.1-acre parcel at 145 W. DeKalb Pike. It is currently occupied by a former Petco building.
A ‘partial’ traffic light at the driveway entrance and two upgraded traffic lights on South Henderson Road at the intersections of Monroe Boulevard and Saulin Boulevard will be installed. The entrance traffic light will allow in-bound left turns into the driveway.
The Wawa building will have 8,601 square feet and eight islands with 16 gasoline pumps. The 142-seat, Chick-Fil-A building will have 4,864-square-foot with a drive-thru window, two ordering stations and outdoor seating on the northern side of the property.
Township Planner Robert Loeper said the Zoning Hearing Board had granted several variances. Attorney Robert Kerns, representing Goodman Properties, said the firm had agreed to all the township conditions.
“Clearly the greatest issue was traffic and access. There will be a partial signal allowing entrance into the site that can be expanded into a full signal later,” Loeper said. “The parking will conform to code regulations. This is a review that has taken a great deal of time.”
In a July 15, 2011 decision, the Zoning Hearing Board granted variances to allow gasoline sales in the C-1 district, 143 parking spaces and 591-square-feet of signs when the maximum allowed was 200-square-feet. On Aug. 3, 2011, the zoning board allowed an additional common sign for four adjacent properties including Wawa and Chick-Fil-A.
Solicitor Joseph McGrory Jr. said that the approval was made contingent on the Upper Merion Township Transportation Authority determining the amount of the Highway Traffic Capital Improvement Assessment Agreement fee. The traffic impact fee will be based on 421 new “p.m. peak hour” trips” minus reductions for new pass-by trips, according to the resolution.
A building permit will not be issued until the traffic impact fee has been agreed to by Goodman Properties.
Supervisors’ Chairwoman Erica Spott said, “I think we came to a better plan.”
“This is a very challenging property. We have to go into this knowing that this is going to be a tight project,” said Supervisor William Jenaway, “and that the signage will generate more lighting.”
Supervisor Greg Waks asked the developer when the project would begin and when it would be completed
Bruce Goodman, the owner of Goodman Properties, said the project could be complete within a year.
During public comment resident Terry Kelly said, “I’m hearing this is a half light but you recognize that you need a full traffic light? You should have a full light first.”
Spott replied, “PennDOT (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) is agreeable with a half traffic light. We will watch the traffic generated by this. This board shares that concern. We had many meetings about our concerns. Route 202 is a state highway and we have no option but to deal with PennDOT. We will have to go back to them within three years. It is going to be a challenging area.”
Supervisor Carole Kenney said that PennDOT officials did not want to allow any traffic light at the initial meetings.
“We will have traffic studies and we will go back later to PennDOT,” Kenney said.
A $2,693 fee will be made in lieu of dedication for the required open space for the project. Six waivers for the location of landscaping were granted by the board."
http://www.omegare.com/
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