This Week's Philadelphia Deal Sheet
Despite fears that the less valuable 10-year tax abatement now in effect would chill multifamily development in Philadelphia, one of the smaller abatement's loudest critics is moving forward on a new project anyway.
Riverwards Group has submitted plans for a 145K SF multifamily development at 1649 North Fifth St., on the western side of South Kensington, to Philadelphia's Civic Design Review panel. The panel will evaluate the proposal during its May 3 meeting. The project calls for 200 residential units and more than 14K SF reserved for artist studios, adding to a thriving cluster of creative space in the area.
The project can proceed by-right through the 38K SF lot's industrial/residential mixed-use zoning designation, though it is required to go through the nonbinding CDR process as a project larger than 100K SF and containing more than 100 housing units. If and when the project commences, it will add to the pipeline of Philly's most active neighborhood for residential development.
Though the development represents the second of a two-phase project, a change in plans to unit layouts means that it will receive building permits this year, too late to enjoy the full 10-year tax abatement's benefits, Riverwards principal Mo Rushdy told Bisnow in an email. The project's first phase includes three- and four-bedroom single-family homes for sale and two-bedroom rental apartments; the second phase will now contain a mix of one-bedroom and studio rentals.
SALES
An affiliate of TA Realty has acquired a 251K SF distribution center in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, from developer Catalyst Commercial Development for $23.9M, according to property records. A team of brokers from Lee & Associates of Eastern Pennsylvania represented Catalyst in the sale, then represented TA Realty in securing an undisclosed tenant within a week of closing, LAEP said in an announcement.
Brandywine Realty Trust purchased a 20% stake in 2970 Market St., an 863K SF office building fully occupied by the IRS on a lease that runs until 2030. Brandywine bought the building as part of a joint venture with two unnamed institutional investors, one of which has been reported to be MSD Partners. Due to the building's proximity to Drexel University and Brandywine's Schuylkill Yards development, a life sciences redevelopment seems likely once the IRS vacates the building.
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Bridge Investment Group purchased a 229K SF distribution center in Northeast Philadelphia for $33.25M, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. The price represents nearly triple what the seller, Covington Property Partners, paid in early 2021 when it bought the warehouse out of a bankruptcy auction.
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Stamm Development Group has sold a 21-unit apartment building steps away from the York-Dauphin stop of the Market-Frankford Line in East Kensington for $7.2M. The five-story building, named The Retro Apartments, is the first to deliver of several multifamily projects under construction on a series of large, previously vacant lots along York Street, which will account for 800 new units combined. A CBRE team of Samantha Kupersmith and Spencer Yablon arranged the sale to buyers identified as Laibel Newhouse and Joel Friedman.
CONSTRUCTION
D3 Real Estate Development and The Concordia Group introduced a proposal for the next phase of their massive townhome-and-multifamily development in Port Richmond called Northbank for review at CDR's next meeting. The 659K SF phase will include 300 residential units and a combination of for-sale townhomes and rental apartments to go along with 5K SF of retail, a first for the site.
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Also up for review at the CDR's May 3 meeting is a proposal from Haverford Square Properties to redevelop an industrial site in the Parkside neighborhood of West Philadelphia into an 82-unit multifamily project. The site is zoned I-2, meaning the 88K SF development will require a zoning variance to proceed. Haverford Square plans to include artist studios on the first floor and a 32-space underground parking garage.
