This Week's Philadelphia Deal Sheet
One of the buildings representing the newer, taller and denser generation of development in Northern Liberties has begun leasing.
Local developer RREI is approaching a spring completion for the residential component of The Carson, its 12-story, 373-unit apartment building at 501 Spring Garden St., though the 40K SF ground-floor retail space is no longer on the same schedule.
RREI, owned by the father-and-son team of Neal and Victor Rodin, confirmed to Bisnow that it has already leased to a grocery tenant, the identity of which it didn't disclose, citing a confidentiality agreement. Amazon leased the space for its first Amazon Fresh grocery store in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported in 2020.
The 40K SF space, which shares the ground floor with residential amenities like a half-length basketball court and video arcade, sat empty as of Feb. 8 and doesn't have an opening date. The remainder of work in the store is the responsibility of the tenant to complete, a spokesperson for RREI told Bisnow.
Amazon has stopped opening new Fresh grocery stores indefinitely, CEO Andy Jassy said on the company's Q4 earnings call.
PEOPLE
Paul Levy will step down from his post as president and CEO of Center City District, a nonprofit that researches and promotes business and civic growth in Downtown Philadelphia, at the end of this year. He will be replaced by CCD Vice President of Parks and Public Realm Prema Katari Gupta, who joined from PIDC in early 2020.
Levy will remain involved with CCD in 2024 by serving as nonexecutive board chair, a role from which he will provide advice and assistance in the leadership transition. He has been the president and CEO of CCD since it was founded in 1991.
SALES
Rockefeller Group sold a 346K SF warehouse in Eastampton, New Jersey, for $83M to Glendale Warehouse and Distribution Corp., which will occupy the building for its spice and food product distribution business. Glendale will consolidate operations from multiple smaller buildings in Edison, a popular submarket within the New York-North Jersey industrial region.
Rockefeller sold the building on State Route 206, 8 miles from Exit 7 of the New Jersey Turnpike, soon after completing its core and shell. The developer purchased the 28-acre parcel in September 2021.
Though the sale wasn't completed until this year, Rockefeller and Glendale coordinated throughout the construction of the food-grade facility. Rockefeller was represented by CBRE in the transaction, and Cushman & Wakefield represented Glendale.
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Paramount Realty Services, a New Jersey-based firm specializing in shopping centers, has acquired a 91K SF center in Marlton, New Jersey, for $36.5M. A joint venture of Abrams Realty & Development and Lazgor Co. sold the property, the 98%-occupied View at Marlton, after developing it in 2017.
Anchored by LA Fitness, the View at Marlton also counts The Malvern School, AAA, and several restaurants and beauty parlors as tenants. Marcus & Millichap subsidiary Institutional Property Advisors represented the seller in the transaction.
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Local investment firm Lifelong Commercial Real Estate purchased a Wawa in the Main Line suburb of Narberth for $4.6M in what appears to be a sale-leaseback transaction. Different CBRE teams represented the buyer and seller, which CBRE only identified as a national REIT.
Montgomery County property records list the owner of the property at 949 Montgomery Ave. as Conwa Properties II, which shares an address with Wawa's corporate headquarters in the Delaware County township of Media. Conwa has owned the property since 2001, the same year the store was built, when Wawa transferred the deed to the LLC for $10, per property records.
CONSTRUCTION
Court Street Ventures and Walton Street Capital have completed speculative construction on a 511K SF distribution center in the Juniata neighborhood of lower Northeast Philadelphia. It now awaits a tenant, at which point fit-out will still be required before occupancy. Colliers is marketing the property on behalf of the developers.
The building at 936 East Erie Ave., called Crown 95, contains a former Crown Cork & Seal facility, which has been renovated into 130K SF of Class-B warehouse space with 28-foot clearances. Should a single tenant want all 511K SF, the redeveloped portion is contiguous, with 381K SF of new construction and 36-foot clearances. The building can also be split for multiple tenants.
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Odin Properties and RAM Development Partners will break ground Friday on a new apartment building at 2112 North Front St., near the nexus of Fishtown, Kensington and South Kensington. The six-story Front Street Lofts is set to offer 31 apartments and a ground-floor retail space on Front Street. Situated within a qualified opportunity zone, the project is making use of the federal opportunity zone tax break.
