PHILADELPHIA — A joint venture between Ensemble Real Estate Investments, Mosaic Development Partners and Oxford Properties Group has broken ground on a 137,000-square-foot life sciences project at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The project is being developed on a speculative basis for cell and gene therapy users and will be able to support tenants with space requirements ranging in size from 5,000 to 35,000 square feet. CRB is designing the project. A completion date was not disclosed.
PHILADELPHIA — Locally based investment firm OneFive Capital has acquired Next LVL, a 281-unit modular housing community in Philadelphia’s University City neighborhood, for $88 million. The seven-story building includes 7,391 square feet of commercial space and 54 underground parking spots. Ken Wellar, Douglas Sitt, Mark Duszak and Corey Lonberger of Rittenhouse Realty Advisors represented the seller and developer, Philadelphia-based Alterra Property Group, in the transaction. The Rittenhouse team also procured OneFive Capital, which plans to rebrand the community as SOLO on Chestnut, as the buyer. ACORE Capital provided acquisition financing.
PITTSBURGH — Aeroterm, a division of global logistics operator Realterm, will enter into a 30-year ground lease with the Allegheny County Airport Authority to develop a cargo facility at Pittsburgh International Airport. The facility will be situated on an 8.8-acre site and will span between 140,000 and 170,000 square feet. Completion is slated for the second quarter of 2023. More than 250 million pounds of freight passed through the airport in 2021, a 30 percent increase in volume from 2020, according to Aeroterm executives.
ARDMORE, PA. — Locally based brokerage firm Starkman Realty Group has negotiated the sale of Greenfield Commons, a 53-unit affordable housing property located in the eastern Philadelphia suburb of Ardmore. The property was built in 2006. Starkman Realty represented the locally based seller, Canus Development, as well as the undisclosed buyer, in the transaction.
HARRISBURG, PA. — New Jersey-based investment firm First National Realty Partners has acquired Dauphin Plaza, a 216,000-square-foot, open-air shopping center in Harrisburg. Grocer Price Rite has served as the anchor tenant since 2006 and currently operates a 33,500-square-foot store. Other tenants include Big Lots, Ashley Furniture, Crunch Fitness, Dollar General, Waffle House, Subway, Weight Watchers and H&R Block. James Galbally, Chris Munley and Colin Behr of JLL represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction.
PHILADELPHIA — JLL has arranged a $22 million acquisition loan for a portfolio of six light industrial properties totaling 251,922 square feet in the Philadelphia area. Specifically, the properties are located in Pennsauken, Moorestown and Marlton, N.J., and Boothwyn and Reading, Pa. The properties are primarily leased to electronics manufacturer Syscom Tech and industrial machinery provider Flowserve Corp. Steven Klein, Michael Klein and Ryan Carroll of JLL arranged the nonrecourse loan through Ready Capital on behalf of the borrower, Wharton Industrial, an affiliate of New York City-based Wharton Equity Partners. The loan was structured with a floating interest rate and a four-year term.
PITTSBURGH — New York City-based developer Tishman Speyer will undertake a project to redevelop a 178-acre former steel mill site in Pittsburgh into a mixed-use destination that will be branded Hazelwood Green. Tishman Speyer will redevelop the site in partnership with a joint venture between the Richard King Mellon Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. Preliminary plans call for millions of square feet of residential and commercial development to be delivered over the next decade. These uses will include market-rate and affordable apartments, retail and restaurant space, parks and open green space and office and life sciences facilities. Regarding the latter component, Tishman Speyer is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University to develop a robotics innovation center that is expected to open in 2024.
By: Jamie Rash, Regional Director, Keystone Development + Investment Talk about a spark. When Spark Therapeutics announced plans at the end of last year to develop a $575 million gene therapy manufacturing plant in Philadelphia, it ignited the city’s evolution into a destination for the largest, most innovative life sciences firms in the world. Over $1 billion in venture capital (VC) investment is pouring into more than 50 Philadelphia life sciences companies that employ some 20,000 people, generating unprecedented demand for lab space. Supply is limited — even with 1 million square feet of lab space in development — and this supply shortage is driving some developers to capitalize on the demand by converting existing building stock. Moving Beyond Meds & Eds Philadelphia is a long-reputed “meds and eds” city, meaning it’s home to anchor institutions of higher learning and world-leading medical facilities that are known for innovation and opportunity. These institutions are major drivers of economic growth throughout the city. Previously, much of the activity in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology occurred in labs in suburban office parks and sprawling corporate campuses. In 2017, the city celebrated two cutting-edge, FDA-approved gene and cell therapies to treat specific types of cancer and …
PITTSBURGH — Hodges Ward Elliott (HWE), an Atlanta-based hospitality brokerage firm, has arranged the sale of the 119-room Home2 Suites Pittsburgh McCandless hotel. Built in 2013, Home2 Suites Pittsburgh McCandless offers an indoor pool, fitness center, business center and complimentary breakfast. The property was sold as part of the disposition of a portfolio of three hotels totaling 376 rooms, with the other two assets being located in Portland and Eugene, Ore. Syracuse-based Widewaters Hotels developed and sold the properties to Atlanta-based Peachtree Hotel Group for an undisclosed price.
PHILADELPHIA — Locally based financial intermediary Scope Capital Group has arranged a $17.7 million construction loan for Box Factory Lofts, a 63-unit multifamily project that will be located in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood. Designed by SITIO Architecture + Urbanism, Box Factory Lofts will house studio, one- and two-bedroom units, as well as 1,100 square feet of commercial space. Construction is slated for a mid-2023 completion. Edward Brown of Scope Capital Group arranged the loan, which carried a 24-month term and an 80 percent loan-to-cost ratio, through a local community bank on behalf of the undisclosed, locally based borrower/developer.
