This Week's Philadelphia Deal Sheet
A multifamily project in Conshohocken from a national-scale developer is set to bring its first units online: The Birch, which sits at 51 Washington St.
LCOR launched property tours for the 304-unit, 450K SF property on Aug. 22 in anticipation of the first move-ins on Sept. 1.
Despite being feet away from a regional rail station, the Birch contains a 366-space parking garage. The Birch's apartments are a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Trammell Crow subsidiary High Street Residential also completed its Matson Mill apartment building in Conshohocken on Aug. 23, just down the block from The Birch. The 280-unit project sits at 101 Washington St., next door to SEPTA's Conshohocken regional rail stop and steps away from its main commercial corridor. Partially financed through an equity partnership with MetLife Investment Management, Matson Mill includes a raft of trophy-class amenities as part of its 318K SF.
LEASING
PREIT has announced the signing of four new tenants at Cherry Hill Mall, what the struggling retail REIT calls its flagship property. Two of the tenants are fashion brands signing their first leases at a PREIT mall: Psycho Bunny and Levi's. The denim and apparel retailer is expected to open its first non-outlet store in the Philly region in time for this year's holiday season, while Psycho Bunny is targeting the middle of next year for its own opening. Accessory and home goods store Rumi Life and seafood restaurant Eddie V's also signed leases at the mall.
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Wharton Equity Partners has leased a 200K SF warehouse in the Bucks County suburb of Croydon to locally headquartered third-party logistics provider Jillamy, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. Wharton purchased the building at 2955 State Road for over $22M last year and leased it back to the seller through April. After the building was vacated, Wharton undertook $2M in improvements.
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Tishman Speyer has signed law firm Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox to a 20K SF lease at its Three Bala Plaza East office building in Bala Cynwyd, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. The firm is moving from a different office along City Avenue, just over the city line from Philly, where it had been for 32 years. A Tactix Real Estate Advisors team led by Glenn Blumenfeld and Mitch Reading represented the law firm for the lease, while Tishman used in-house representation.
FINANCING
One of the biggest early winners in Philadelphia's life sciences boom is doubling down.
Keystone Development + Investment has secured a $265M loan from Nuveen Real Estate to convert another 200K SF of The Curtis to life sciences use from office space. To date, Keystone has redeveloped only a couple of floors of the 912K SF former publishing plant and headquarters, including the conversion of the former plant floors to be compliant with Current Good Manufacturing Practices.
With three life sciences tenants in hand and a 53K SF accelerator and graduation space operated by BioLabs, Keystone benefited from getting life sciences space online ahead of an influx of new construction. The financing from Nuveen, a subsidiary of pension fund TIAA, will fund building-wide infrastructure to support a more life sciences-heavy tenant mix in addition to the conversion itself.
