This Week’s Philadelphia Deal Sheet: Center City Gets A Major Office Renewal
A nonprofit law group has renewed a lease for its headquarters at the Packard Building in Center City, among the largest renewals this year in the area.
The Defender Association of Philadelphia renewed 117K SF at 1441 Sansom St., a deal that takes up a fourth of the tower’s total 400K SF.
The association plans to convert storage space into a 5K SF moot court over the next 12 to 15 months within its current floor, an upgrade for attorneys going through on-site training.
“When you're scheduled for your first jury trial, we want to have the option of an attorney standing in a courtroom [setting] to do a mock opening, a mock closing and cross-examinations. You can do that in an office, but it doesn’t have the same gravitas,” Sarah Allen, the first assistant defender, told Bisnow. “This is for attorneys to have a higher level of comfort going into their first trial.”
The space will also be used for the firm’s juvenile clients to get comfortable with the setting before heading into a real courtroom, Allen said. The nonprofit is converting other storage space into additional offices and conference rooms.
The firm has been expanding by around 3% per year, Allen said. It has reached 500 staff, including 300 attorneys who work a hybrid schedule but are mostly back in the office. The firm represents about 70% of all criminal trials in Philadelphia, Allen said.
JLL’s Joshua Sloan and David Healy worked on the lease renewal for the Defender Association, and Method Co.’s David Grasso represented the landlord in-house.
SALES
J.P. Morgan Asset Management and B.D. Holdings shelled out $37M to acquire an industrial property in North Brunswick, New Jersey. The deal for the 205K SF industrial property on 5 acres at 1460 Livingston Ave. closed last week, according to Traded. The industrial property last sold in 2021 for $21M, according to county records. JLL’s Max Custer and Clear Height Advisor’s Guy Hananya brokered the deal.
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GID Industrial purchased an industrial property for $14.8M in Pennsauken, New Jersey, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. The deal for the 111K SF building at 8290 National Highway, about 3 miles east of the Betsy Ross Bridge, closed as the firm’s first deal in the metropolitan area. GID will renovate the vacant property, which was last occupied by logistics firm Lyons and Sons. The property’s sellers, 8290 National Highway Associates LLC and 8290 Gamije Associates LLC, share an address with a Lyons and Sons location.
FINANCING
Mainstreet Capital Partners and Contrarian Capital Management snagged a $27M refinancing for the 138K SF industrial property at 400 Devon Park Drive in Wayne, according to an announcement. The loan covers three years with options to extend for two more years. The sum came from RMR Group, and its CRE finance division, Tremont Realty Capital, acted as the direct lender.
DEVELOPMENT
The former H&M at 1725 Walnut St. has been partly demolished. The Rittenhouse Square property is being redeveloped to add the first Philadelphia location of high-end fashion retailer Aritzia, according to a marketing brochure from brokerage MSC. The store is set to open by the fourth quarter. The property has about 11K SF remaining on its second and third floors for office or other use.
