This Week's Philadelphia Deal Sheet
As The Laurel, the tallest residential building in Philadelphia, rapidly approaches completion, owner Southern Land Co. has released details and an opening date for its rental portion.
Situated at the northwest corner of Center City's Rittenhouse Square, The Laurel will have two residential entrances: one for the 65 for-sale condominium units at 1911 Walnut St. and another for the 184-apartment 1909 Rittenhouse rental portion at 1909 Walnut. The rental units are spread among Floors 3 through 25, with the condos taking up Floors 27 through 48.
Pre-leasing for 1909 Rittenhouse will launch in August, and move-ins are expected to begin in November. Units ranging in size from 550 SF to 1,375 SF will be available in studio, one- and two-bedroom layouts. A fourth-floor amenity space will include a fitness center, hospitality bar and outdoor terrace, and tenants will have access to amenities located on upper floors, including a golf simulator and a rooftop pool with gas grills and cabanas.
SLC has sold over half of the for-sale units, which range in price from $2.5M to $25M for the 48th-floor penthouse, which remains unsold, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. The first three floors also contain 44K SF of retail space, including the first Philadelphia location of upscale fitness chain Equinox and a new concept from prolific local restaurant group Schulson Collective.
SALES
Faropoint, a New Jersey-based firm with roots in Tel Aviv, has sold a 109-property portfolio of last-mile distribution centers concentrated in the Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and Memphis metropolitan areas. A private buyer acquired the 98% occupied, 6.8M SF portfolio for $481M.
The warehouses in the portfolio average 62K SF, a large chunk of which are multitenant properties with a total of 200 tenants between them. Eastdil Secured advised on the sale and financing of the portfolio, which Faropoint assembled mostly through a series of individual acquisitions aggregated for a three-year hold period.
PEOPLE
Architecture, planning and interior design firm FCA President John Campbell retired on June 27 after five years in the role and 36 overall at the company, which is headquartered at 2000 Market St. in Center City. The FCA board announced the selection of Aran McCarthy, himself an FCA veteran of 22 years, to replace Campbell as president on July 1.
With a specialization in healthcare architecture and design, McCarthy will be tasked with the continued growth of the company, formerly known as Francis Cauffman Architects, which has ongoing partnerships with major regional employers such as GlaxoSmithKline and Vanguard.
LEASING
The first residential portion of uCity Square, University City Science Center's life sciences-focused development district, has opened its doors as ANOVA uCity Square. GMH Communities developed the six-story, 330K SF building on behalf of Wexford Science + Technology, UCSC's lead developer for uCity Square.
The 462-unit project contains 10K SF of ground-floor retail, a two-story parking garage with 157 spaces and 15K SF of amenity space. At 3700 Lancaster Ave., ANOVA uCity Square sits steps from One uCity Square, the speculative life sciences building Wexford developed in partnership with Ventas that is slated to open before the end of the year.
With units, amenity spaces and front-desk services all outfitted with some form of smart technology and a Fitwel-certified wellness program, ANOVA uCity Square is directly targeting employees of the neighborhood's booming life sciences industry for its tenants.
