Office

PHILADELPHIA — SSH Real Estate has sold Chestnut Place, a 140,000-square-foot, Class B office building in Philadelphia, to a partnership led by Alterra Property Group LLC for $17.5 million. The seller was 15th and Chestnut L.P., a limited partnership led by general partners Peter Soens and Jeffrey Seligsohn, principals of SSH Real Estate. The partnership acquired the building in 2005 for approximately $11.4 million. During the past several years, SSH Real Estate has positioned selected office leases to have the flexibility to allow for residential conversion. The building is located at the corner of 15th and Chestnut streets.

NORWALK, CONN. — Mack-Cali Realty Corp. has sold its office property located at 40 Richards Ave. in Norwalk for $16.5 million. The Davis Cos. purchased the seven-story, 145,487-square-foot property. The office building was 64 percent occupied at the time of sale. Matthew Keefe of HK Group represented Mack-Cali in the transaction.

PHILADELPHIA — DeMedici II Corp. has purchased an eight-story, 226,890-square-foot Class A office building in Philadelphia for $29 million. Liberty Property Philadelphia Limited Partnership II sold the property, located at 1600 Vine St., to the corporation. The building will house the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School, which will open in the fall of this year with 350 ninth graders. The school will add a grade each year until 1,400 students are enrolled. Constructed in 1999, the building at Three Franklin Plaza includes eight floors averaging 28,361 square feet. The buyer plans to spend between $10 million and $12 million on upgrades to create a theater, performing arts studios, science labs and an automotive engineering lab. Chris Pennington, vice president in Binswanger’s Philadelphia office, handled the transaction.