This Week’s Philadelphia Deal Sheet: 100-Year-Old Center City Skyscraper Gets $18M Face-Lift
A vintage office tower in the heart of Center City is celebrating its 100th anniversary with $18M worth of modern upgrades.
The Philadelphia Building at 1315 Walnut St. in Midtown Village has a new tenant lounge with a podcast studio, mothers rooms and a nearly 4K SF coworking space, according to a press release from owner Goldman Properties. That’s in addition to a new HVAC system and electrical upgrades throughout the building.
The structure, which opened in 1924 and was designed by Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer, will also offer a colorful new lobby with works from contemporary artists like Dan Kitchener, Hebru Brantley and Peter Tunney.
“At a time when many real estate firms are scaling back or looking to exit from historic office buildings, we’re taking a bold step forward,” Goldman Properties CEO Scott Srebnick said in a statement.
“As we celebrate this milestone, we remain deeply committed to preserving the character of this building while adapting it to the needs of today’s businesses and the community.”
PEOPLE
Velocity Venture Partners has hired two new employees. The industrial real estate firm added William Redican as its chief financial officer and Michael Mortimer as its senior vice president of asset management.
Both new hires came from the Goldenberg Group, where Redican and Mortimer worked for 16 and seven years, respectively.
SALES
CenterSquare purchased the nearly 17K SF Cedar Hill Shopping Center in Voorhees. The property is 100% leased, and tenants include Starbucks, Orangetheory and UPS.
LEASES
The supply chain management firm Martin Brower signed a lease for a 147K SF warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia. The space in Crow Holdings Development’s complex at 14515 McNulty Road is expected to be complete by fall 2025. It will include 57K SF of cold storage.
Martin Brower is the largest supply chain partner for McDonald's, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported.
CBRE's Jonathan S. Springer, Andrew Green and Mike Barker represented the tenant, while Colliers' Brad Boone and Brian McCurdy represented Crow.
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The city of Philadelphia is negotiating a lease that could make 4101 Market St. in University City the home of the police department’s forensics lab, according to the PBJ. The 250K SF life sciences building was completed in 2023 and has sat mostly vacant since.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
ChristianaCare will spend $50M to build a small hospital with an emergency room in Delaware County, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The facility with 10 inpatient beds slated for 700 Turner Industrial Way is expected to open in the second half of 2026.
Construction is already underway on a similar ChristianaCare neighborhood hospital in nearby West Grove. That healthcare center should open sometime next year.
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Pennrose and FOP Senior Citizens Inc. have undertaken $24M worth of renovations at their 106-unit affordable senior housing community in the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia.
The work, expected to wrap up in spring 2026, will include window replacement, facade repairs, accessibility improvements and more, according to a press release from Pennrose.
