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Philadelphia Retail Market Establishes Its Resilience

Taylor Williams — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 11:47:00 +0000

By Taylor Williams No matter your size, market and scope of operation, for retail owners and operators, there is no such thing as total immunity from the likes of e-commerce, COVID-19, inflation and interest rate hikes. But there is such a thing as absorbing those socioeconomic hits in stride, learning and evolving from them and re-emerging on significantly more solid ground. And that is largely the path that the Philadelphia retail market has traversed over the past few years. The timing of the pandemic dismantled the launch of Fashion District, the redevelopment of the former Gallery at Market East Mall that should have ushered in a new scene of experience-based, locally merchandised retail in Philadelphia. Retailers and restaurants along Center City District’s main shopping corridors quickly devised solutions to the global healthcare crisis and were returning to normalcy when bad timing once again intervened. This time, it took the form of the Delta variant, which delayed plans to reopen existing stores or launch new ones and erased some of the positive momentum that landlords and tenants had recouped. For their part, suburban retail properties, many of whose performances were bolstered in the short run by pandemic- driven population influxes, are…

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Logistics, Life Sciences at Center of Philadelphia’s New, Transformational Development

Taylor Williams — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 13:10:52 +0000

By Andrew Chused, founding partner, head of investments, Hilco Redevelopment Partners From the nation’s beginning to modern times, Philadelphia has been a bellwether city with a proud legacy of leading the nation to many of its firsts, including the country’s inaugural medical school, library, hospital, business school and stock exchange. In this city of firsts, Hilco Redevelopment Partners (HRP) is unlocking and reinventing a large portion of the city: the former 1,300-acre Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) site on the city’s southwest side. Not only is the redevelopment of this site transforming a relic of the city’s industrial age into a new, sustainable economy for the first time, but the project will also transform the way logistics and life sciences companies grow in southwest Philadelphia. An Economic Hub The site, aptly named The Bellwether District, represents a new ecosystem for a variety of tenants, including logistics, e-commerce and life sciences. Located in the shadows of University City and along the Schuylkill River, the project will create over 32,000 jobs and serve as an economic catalyst that drives growth to the city and region for generations to come. Upon its acquisition of the property in June of 2020, HRP quickly began the…

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New 76ers Arena Has Game-Changing Potential

Taylor Williams — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 11:45:50 +0000

By Taylor Williams Though very much in its infancy, the Philadelphia 76ers’ recent decision to assemble a development team and file a formal proposal for a new arena at the current site of Fashion District Philadelphia has drawn the city’s retail market into speculation on how buildings, operators and streetscapes will be impacted. Known as 76 Place, the $1.3 billion venue would theoretically anchor the Market East corridor that connects Center City to Chinatown and Old City via its location atop the city’s largest public transit hub. The ability to centralize the arrival of fans, shoppers and diners from all cardinal directions, as well as multiple states, automatically sparks excitement for growth opportunities in the world of retail real estate. This project would immediately check that box. “The announcement of the new 76ers arena has generated a lot of discussion in the retail world,” says Steve Gartner, executive vice president at CBRE. “Bringing an arena to downtown Center City, especially one that’s adjacent to a convention center, will allow Philadelphia to hold more concerts and global events, like political conventions, that impact retailers and restaurants. These positive impacts will permeate the fabric of all of downtown.” “The retail community is…

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Amenities Rise in Importance as Greater Philadelphia Users Return to Offices

Taylor Williams — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 11:37:32 +0000

By Marc DeLuca, CEO and eastern regional president, KBS Refreshing office properties with updated amenities is a time-tested strategy for infusing buildings with new life and appealing to future and existing tenants. While an asset’s location is a fixed element and a region’s fundamentals tend to change slowly, amenities are more flexible and can usually be implemented quickly if necessary for immediate impact. A recent report by flexible workspace provider TCC Canada found that many companies and their team members increasingly recognize the benefits of gathering teams in a central workplace. But after more than two years of varying degrees of remote work, it makes sense for property owners to invest in amenities that actually meet the needs and wants of office users — which have recently shifted. So which amenities are the best ones to include in today’s office buildings? As an owner and operator of premier office assets for the last 30 years, KBS has witnessed amenity preferences come and go. We know how to spot a passing fad versus a trend with legs. Based on our expertise in this area, here are a few amenities we see attracting office tenants in the current and emerging environment. Scalable…

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Philadelphia Shopping Centers Present Opportunities to Revamp, Unlock Value

Taylor Williams — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 11:49:44 +0000

By Kari Glinski, vice president of asset management, Federal Realty Investment Trust Philadelphia is known for many things, from being the City of Brotherly Love to a city rich in history, art, culture and food. As a result, the region is desirable for many residents and visitors and has been recognized in real estate circles for its housing and retail development opportunities. Throughout the pandemic, greater Philadelphia has lent itself to commuters, residents, tourists and hybrid employers by providing convenient access to other East Coast cities, vast amenities and outdoor recreation spaces, as well as unique dining, entertainment and shopping experiences. Recognizing the need to continue catering to the remote employees, shopping center owners and developers see ample opportunity across the region, specifically within the inner suburbs. In these locations, there is a great mix of diversity, mature employment bases and irreplaceable real estate where developers can continually create long-term value through blended opportunities. Federal Realty has been reinvesting in the greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey region for the past decade, strategically transforming our portfolio. Our company focuses on the ownership, operation and redevelopment of high-quality, retail-focused properties, with a mission to deliver long-term, sustainable growth through investing in…

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Rents, Costs Move at Record Paces Throughout Mid-Atlantic Industrial Market

Taylor Williams — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 11:21:11 +0000

By Taylor Williams Industrial brokers and developers throughout New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania are flush with tenant demand, but the frenetic pace and frequency at which revenues and costs change in this market has introduced a whole new set of operating challenges. In terms of the supply side of the market, developers of industrial product, like those of every other property type, have been squeezed by supply chain disruption. Prices and lead times for ordering key materials change radically and often without warning. Developers who try to circumvent these obstacles by ordering way earlier than normal in the process now run an increased risk of having to take delivery of supplies without having all permits and sources of construction financing in place. Such a misfire in timing can create lags in delivery, potentially alienating tenants needing turnkey space and generating additional short-term costs via storage of the materials before construction begins. In addition, misaligning these timelines can spook potential investors that want the certainty of knowing that a project is moving forward. “We’re buying supplies a year in advance and trying to sync up deliveries of those materials with when we expect to have full project approval,” says Peter Polt,…

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Philadelphia’s Emergence as Life Sciences Hub Creates Mad Dash For Lab Space

Taylor Williams — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 12:04:49 +0000

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…

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Three Key Trends to Watch in the Philadelphia Multifamily Market in 2022

Taylor Williams — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 12:44:18 +0000

By Gary Holloway Jr, president, GMH Communities The COVID-19 pandemic served as an accelerator for transforming the Philadelphia multifamily market. Overnight, property owners and managers had to quickly adapt and find new ways to serve their residents while prioritizing their safety and following all of the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As we head into 2022, the pandemic will continue to influence what prospective tenants expect from their apartment communities. Here are three opportunities that multifamily owners should consider as the industry continues to grow and evolve in Philadelphia. WFH is Here to Stay Working from home is not a new trend. However, the pandemic thrust countless residents into remote work situations without warning. This sudden shift in work routines has prompted multifamily developers to rethink which amenities they need to provide now that remote and hybrid work is the norm. At GMH Communities, we are actively growing our amenity offerings to enhance the work-from-home experience. At The Yards at Malvern, one of our newest properties that is located in the suburb of Malvern, residents have access to a robust business center with multiple small and large conference rooms with a Zoom conference room,…

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Philadelphia’s Growing Demand for Industrial Space: Is There an End in Sight?

Taylor Williams — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 10:33:27 +0000

By Richard Gorodesky, SIOR, senior managing director, Colliers International; and Adam Gorodesky, associate, Colliers International Commercial real estate is historically a cyclical business. There is a fairly predictable pattern of oversupply, recession, recovery and finally expansion before starting all over again. While the cycle isn’t always this cleanly defined, it generally follows this pattern, and has done so for decades. While this formula can be very useful for understanding the cycles and what occurs during them, it lacks one key ingredient: timing. There’s no way to accurately predict when one stage is ending or how long each phase will last. On a basic level, like in all markets, the commercial real estate market cycle responds to the balance, imbalance and rebalancing of supply and demand. The factors that influence the market and determine the length of each cycle are and will continue to be moving targets. Demand Overview While e-commerce represents about 18 percent of retail sales today, and it is widely believed in commercial real estate circles that that number could grow to 30 percent by 2025. Amazon, online retailers and other e-commerce companies have not only fueled demand for last-mile distribution facilities, which are necessary to reach as…

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Downtown Philly Retailers, Restaurants Wait Out Delta Variant

Taylor Williams — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 11:19:45 +0000

By Taylor Williams Relative to a year ago, life is much better right now for many retailers and restaurants in Philadelphia’s Center City district, but the recent surge of transmission of the Delta variant is keeping a key ingredient of the demand recipe at bay: office users. According to CBRE’s second-quarter report on the Philadelphia office market, the most current data available at the time of this writing, the marketwide vacancy rate was 18.9 percent at the end of that period. Specifically with regard to the downtown area, the largest office submarket by far in terms of inventory, vacancy stood at 14.7 percent at the end of the second quarter. Office metrics aside, as Philadelphia grappled with the novelty of COVID-19 in 2020, its merchants and food purveyors adapted, adjusting inventory levels, rolling out improvised outdoor seating areas and expanding takeout and curbside pick-up options. The colder months saw the introduction of igloos — enclosed, heated nooks for private dining — as well as larger, city-led efforts to clear major retail corridors for street-side experiences, known locally as “streateries.” The innovations saved many-a-retailer and restaurant and are likely here to continue through 2021 and beyond. Yet within the city’s most…

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Demand Floods Mid-Atlantic Industrial Market

Taylor Williams — Tue, 18 May 2021 11:20:46 +0000

By Taylor Williams Demand for industrial space continues to surge throughout New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, prompting developers to undertake more projects on a speculative basis and avail themselves to the classic mantra of “If you build it, they will come.” E-commerce users, spanning every industry from building materials to electronics to food, continue to spearhead the demand side of the equation. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2020, a year in which a global health crisis spurred furious increases in online shopping, e-commerce sales accounted for 14.4 percent of all retail sales, up from 7.3 percent in 2015. That figure is expected to grow to nearly 20 percent by 2024. Lenders are eager to finance speculative industrial projects, and developers are scouring the Mid-Atlantic for viable sites as spec projects increasingly account for bigger portions of their portfolios. “Pre-COVID, and even dating back several years, you might see 20 percent of the Mid-Atlantic industrial projects being done as build-to-suits,” says Rob Borny, senior vice president of capital deployment and head of the East Region for Nevada-based Dermody Properties. “It’s now moving toward being significantly less [build-to-suit activity] due to robust tenant demand, as well as the shorter lead…

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Pittsburgh Development Landscape Favors More Multifamily, Adaptive Reuse Projects

Taylor Williams — Tue, 11 May 2021 12:04:13 +0000

By Mark Fogel, president and CEO, ACRES Capital As the state’s second-most populous metro, the Pittsburgh MSA is the anchor of western Pennsylvania. Over the last 20 years, Pittsburgh has pivoted and evolved into a hub for the healthcare, education and technology industries, thus attracting an influx of young, high-earning millennials. Over the last 10 years, Pittsburgh has undergone an economic resurgence. Firms such as Google and Uber have opened regional headquarters in the city, lured by the strong base of talent graduating from Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) computer science and robotics programs. In fact, Pittsburgh has been the epicenter for autonomous vehicles (AVs) since the mid-1980s, when CMU’s Robotics Department developed the world’s first self-driving car. AV research, development and testing are expected to be catalysts of growth for the city in the coming years. In addition, the cutting-edge research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the associated University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which operates eight hospitals within the MSA and plans to build three more over the next several years, is attracting medical professionals from around the world. These factors, combined with a low cost of living and proximity to high-end amenities, have helped Pittsburgh…

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Pittsburgh Industrial Market Displays Resilience, Sees More Development

Taylor Williams — Fri, 07 May 2021 11:55:24 +0000

By Justin Brown, director of research, Cushman & Wakefield | Grant Street Associates Inc. While the last year has been extremely challenging, one bright spot within Pittsburgh’s commercial real estate markets has been the industrial sector, the resiliency of which cannot be overstated. Consistent increases in asking rents, flat vacancy rates and positive levels of absorption have been the norms for the past few quarters. Like many metros, the Pittsburgh industrial market saw very strong absorption in the fourth quarter of last year — about 391,000 square feet, to be exact. Net absorption slid to approximately 92,000 square feet in the first quarter of this year, but there rem ains ample reason to believe that leasing activity will stay steady, if not improve, in the coming months. Much of the new leasing activity has been concentrated within the airport corridor. This region features both considerable land for new development and exceptional access to key pieces of infrastructure, making it popular with tenants and landlords alike. Currently, there is approximately 1.8 million square feet of industrial space under construction throughout the metro, with more than half of those projects (about 1 million square feet) concentrated in the airport corridor. The average…

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Pitfalls, Opportunities Abound Within Pittsburgh’s Property Tax Code

Taylor Williams — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 13:10:26 +0000

By Brendan Kelly, associate, Siegel Jennings Over the past decade, Mr. Rogers’ adopted hometown of Pittsburgh has been named the most livable city in the continental United States — a hipster haven, tech hub and other trendy titles. Affordable housing stock in a stable real estate market, access to the arts in an established cultural community and world-class healthcare and higher education place the Steel City at the forefront of medicine and robotics. This attention has drawn real estate investors to submarkets well beyond downtown Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle. As competition increases, investors from outside the region should be aware of idiosyncrasies and pitfalls lurking in Pennsylvania tax law and the local market. Welcome, Stranger As in most states, assessors in Pennsylvania cannot independently change a property’s assessment upon its transfer. However, Pennsylvania lets local taxing districts appeal assessments and request value increases, which they frequently do following a sale. Locals often call this the “welcome, stranger” tax. “One of the most common reactions I hear from our out-of-state clients who are new to this market is disbelief that districts can appeal assessments,” says Sharon F. DiPaolo, Esq., managing partner of Siegel Jennings’ Pennsylvania property tax practice. “Of course, in most…

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Philly Retail Market Responds to COVID-19

Taylor Williams — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 12:06:07 +0000

By Taylor Williams What a difference a year makes. Around this time in 2019, the Philadelphia retail market was experiencing something of a Renaissance. Driven by forward-thinking projects in chic neighborhoods, such as Fashion District Philadelphia, as well as the delivery of new phases of retail at destinations like Schuylkill Yards and the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the market was embracing new users, customers and spaces alike. The evolution of Philly’s retail market at this time inevitably bred winners and losers. Six months later, the onset of a global pandemic would give rise to political policies that crushed capacities and foot traffic for retailers and restaurants. Add in a healthy dose of elevated online shopping, and the result was a one-two punch that was simply too much for some retailers to survive. Such is the scene playing out today in the City of Brotherly Love. But real estate professionals are quick to point out that the demise of some retailers was unavoidable before COVID-19 came around, and that ultimately the city’s strong demographics will usher its retail market through the recession. “We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that pre-COVID, several categories of retailers were not thriving or were irrelevant or…

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Three Key Trends to Monitor in Philadelphia’s Multifamily Market

Taylor Williams — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 12:09:15 +0000

By Christine Beechan, area vice president, Morgan Properties If there’s one certainty about the unusual year that is 2020, it’s that COVID-19 has significantly impacted every industry across the globe. For apartment owners and operators, we’ve entered uncharted territory in terms of changing renter demands, unconventional leasing methods and new operational procedures. Consequently, it’s especially important right now for apartment professionals to understand the complexities of the current state of the market and where it’s heading. As 2021 is fast approaching, here are three key trends we can expect to see in the Philadelphia multifamily market for the remainder of 2020 and into the new year. Demand Remains Stable When the pandemic initially hit, we noticed a decrease in leasing because Pennsylvania was under strict orders to shelter-in-place. Because of this uncertainty, people wanted to see how the pandemic would shake out and ultimately decided to stay put, affecting markets across the nation. However, as those restrictions were lifted and the economy started to stabilize, we noticed people felt more comfortable moving into new units, which is typical during the summer season prior to school commencing. Unlike most cities, both urban and suburban parts of Philadelphia have seen accelerated growth…

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Philadelphia Office Market Enters ‘Wait-and-See’ Mode

Taylor Williams — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 11:49:32 +0000

By Tom Weitzel, managing director, JLL The Philadelphia office market at the moment is running in place, which is to say that there is certainly energy being expended, but it is going nowhere fast. Tenants and landlords alike are partnering with real estate experts to navigate this challenging time. However, while office users evaluate businesses and study workforces, the benefit of making a decision has not yet outweighed the downside of making a wrong decision, so most users are adopting a “wait-and-see” approach. Tenant Perspective Tenants are finding it challenging to make long-term decisions about their office spaces given the lack of clarity in the future. Business leaders and executives are tasked with considering factors such as health and safety, productivity, profitability and overall employee morale on a daily basis as they evaluate their physical office space usage during COVID-19. Throughout the region, executives continue to balance health and safety concerns with operational needs as they advance office re-entry plans. They are also assessing the current productivity of their employees compared to that at the beginning of the pandemic. Many companies that we have spoken with have cited declining productivity and creativity from their employees. At the same time, these…

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Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey Industrial Market: Everything Investors Need to Know

Taylor Williams — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 12:02:56 +0000

By Marc Isdaner, senior managing director, principal, Colliers International; and Ian Richman, senior managing director, Colliers International Strong job and population growth in recent years have caused the Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey industrial market to continually rise on the radars of both investors and developers. As the nation battles COVID-19, we see demand for industrial space growing as more users look to service last-mile customers in densely populated areas. This market is no exception. With the right guidance and counseling, investors can achieve strong returns here, even as variables like user demand and land/construction costs continue to rise, bringing valuations and sales prices along with them. Projects Get Bigger We continue to see developers take down large tracts near major thoroughfares in this region, oftentimes building on speculative bases. Examples of such projects are Mansfield Logistics Park, a 960,000-square-foot, two-building spec development by Clarion Partners off Interstate 295 in Burlington County that is nearing completion; and The Cubes at East Greenwich, a two-building spec development located off I-295 in Gloucester County. The latter project is being developed in an area that was largely inactive until 2018, as land sites and established industrial parks such as Pureland were essential built out. Scout…

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Developers Adapt to Tight Office Market in Northeast

Taylor Williams — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 12:48:39 +0000

Office vacancies are falling across the big metros of the Northeast as robust user demand outpaces the supply of new construction. Deliveries in the last year have primarily been limited to Class A, build-to-suit properties and mixed-use developments. Meanwhile, office tenants are seeking high-end amenities at favorable prices. Nationally, the office vacancy rate stood at 16.8 percent in the second quarter, up slightly from 16.6 percent a year ago, according to real estate research firm Reis. Net absorption for the quarter totaled 3.2 million square feet, down from 3.9 million square feet a year ago. The average asking rent was $33.79 per square foot, up 2.2 percent on a year-over-year basis. Approximately 11.1 million square feet of office space was under construction at the end of the second quarter across Philadelphia, New York and Boston, according to CoStar Group. Helped by approximately 8.3 million square feet of absorption in the second quarter, the average vacancy rate across all three markets was 8.1 percent. Rather than undertake costly new ground-up construction projects, many developers are choosing to redevelop existing assets and efficiently incorporate office space into mixed-use projects. Coworking tenants occupied 54.2 million square feet of office space nationally at the…

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Experiential Retail Takes Philly by Storm

Taylor Williams — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 11:59:05 +0000

The evolution and transformation of Philadelphia’s retail real estate market is in full swing, as evidenced by the arrival of several long-awaited shopping and dining concepts, the growth of retail in mixed-use settings and the balanced levels of demand between urban and suburban submarkets. According to the latest data from CoStar Group, over the last three years the Philadelphia metro area’s retail inventory has grown by about 1.3 million square feet per year. The development pipeline is leveling off, with less than 700,000 square feet of retail product currently under construction, and steady demand has pushed the market’s vacancy rate down to 4.2 percent. While the quantity of annual new space added has been on par with the national average for primary markets, the quality of that space and the fundamentals that drive demand for it have made Philadelphia a key market for expanding and new-to-market retailers. “Philadelphia is a market with many millennials and college students, a dense residential downtown area and a thriving tourism industry,” says Doug Green, managing principal at brokerage firm MSC Retail. “If you’re Bonobos, Warby Parker or Untuckit, Philadelphia is going to be one of your stops, because we check all the boxes that…

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