20C — March 16 - 29, 2018 — Pennsylvania — M id A tlantic
Real Estate Journal
www.marejournal.com
P ennsylvania
The revitalized downtown Allentown could be the . . .
Team sells 100% leased flex building for $6.6 million Avison Young announces sale of 58,594 s/f flex building M alvern, PA — Adam Gillespie , principal and James
Pasquarel- la , senior vice president of the Avison Y o u n g - Philadelphia Investment Real Estate B r o k e r a g e division, is p l eas ed t o a n n o u n c e the sale of 17 Lee Blvd. in Malvern, PA. The flex b u i l d i n g , which totals 58 , 594 s / f , w a s f u l l y leased by two Target has signed a lease for a 57,640 s/f location a t D e v o n Square Shop- ping Center i n D e v o n . Target was represented b y S t e v e Ni gg eman a n d T o m Londres of Metro in this transaction. L o c a t e d in the west- ern portion of Philadel- phia’s Main
Houses in downtown Allentown, PA, are attracting both local and out-of-state investors looking to capitalize on the city’s revitalization as property values increase and the downtown’s new professionals seek walk-to-work convenience. Credit: Upside Allentown
Adam Gillespie
17 Lee Blvd.
Many of their employees, including millennials and empty-nesters, desire a walk- to-work environment, and the market is responding. Mark Smith of MS9 Hold- ings has been investing in real estate in Allentown for more than 35 years. He is cur- rently working with New Co- lumbia Capital of New York City, which has begun buying residential properties in the neighborhoods surrounding the NIZ. “Over the past three years, I have seen tremendous inter- est from out-of-town investors looking to capitalize on the city’s revitalization,” Smith said. “New Columbia Capital from New York is just one example. They have been pur- chasing properties here for the past three or four years and currently have five downtown. They jumped in at the start of the NIZ and are seeing tre- mendous increases in value. Some investors are looking to convert multi-unit places into single-family homes and others are looking for larger blocks of homes to help revi- talize entire neighborhoods.” Ac cord i ng t o Pat r i c i a Scheirer of Weichert Realtors, who maintains a database of homes for sale that are eligible for downtown Allen- town’s Live Near Your Work program, home prices are in- deed appreciating downtown. Today’s average home price is $64,334, which is more than $12,000 above the average price in 2014. “As more and more busi- nesses move downtown, we are seeing demand for more and more employees wanting to live near their work in this vibrant, walkable commu- nity,” Sheirer said. With the explosive rate of the revitalization within the NIZ, investment opportuni- ties in its surrounding neigh- borhoods may very well be the next boom. n
neighborhoods surrounding the central business district. As a result, while CCIC pre- pares for another $500 million in mixed-use development, it’s now looking at opportunities beyond the NIZ boundaries. In mid-February 2018, CCIC announced plans to develop the Walnut Street Commons, a 61-unit residen- tial building that will wrap around the Community Deck parking structure at Sixth and Walnut streets in Allen- town. The project marks the company’s first development outside of the NIZ. “The confidence we have about the continued suc- cess of the Neighborhood Improvement Zone has led us to expand our development outside of the NIZ boundaries and extend the revitalization of downtown Allentown,” said J.B. Reilly, president of CCIC. CCIC is not alone. Jaindl Enterprises, developer of the major mixed-use project planned within the NIZ along the Lehigh River, The Wa- terfront, recently announced its new office, retail and resi- dential space will be joined by affordable housing. Greystone Abbey, a separate entity with- in Jaindl Enterprises, plans to buy single-family homes near the riverfront development in Allentown’s First Ward and in the neighborhoods around West Park and renovate them to become affordable rental housing. Greystone Abbey will spend between $20,000 and $50,000 to restore each home. The number of profession- als who work in downtown Allentown has climbed signifi- cantly between 2013 and 2018 as City Center Allentown tenants like BB&T, Morgan Stanley and Lehigh Valley Health Network have decided to make the urban core home. continued from page 11C Housing Heats Up Downtown
tenants at the time of the sale. The purchaser of the prop- erty is a private buyer who is making their first indus- trial acquisition in the Greater Philadelphia area. “This was a beneficial trans- action for the buyer and the seller,” said Gillespie. “The
seller was able to earn value on recently executed leases within the building and the buyer was able to lock in debt just before a spike in interest rates. The buyer will also ben- efit from the continuous rising rental rates in the Malvern market.” n
James Pasquarella Metro Commercial brokers 57,640 s/f Target lease at Devon Square SC in Devon, PA
Devon, PA — Metro Commercial Real Estate, Inc. (Metro) announced that
Steve Niggeman
Target rendering
metalworking business recent- ly relocated from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Huntingdon County fromLancaster, a hun- dred miles away. The company owner estimates that “they can run their business for about a third of what they run their business in Lancaster, “Target continues to execute against their regional and national strategy of focusing on smaller format stores with carefully curated products and 34,253 s/f available for lease next to the new Target, along with a 3,000 s/f outparcel. The Devon Square Target is slated to open in October 2018. This is the second Main Line location to be announced in recent months and the ninth Target to open in the region that follows Target’s smaller format store strategy. Nation- wide, Target is on track to oper- ate 130 small-format stores by the end of 2019.
based on land and labor costs. Reitman said, “With the addition of a few more busi- nesses here and there and a fewmore destination places to keep more tourism/hospitality money in the county, I see us really becoming a unique jewel of the Northeast.” n “Target continued growth in the region is testament to a strong retail strategy that takes into account how custom- ers want to consume products and services both online and in person,” said Tom Londres, president and CEO at Metro Commercial. n services in high density mar- kets,” said Steve Niggeman, executive vice president, Metro Commercial. “The new Devon location is perfectly situated to service the western Main Line customer and is a great complement to the recently announced Ardmore location on the eastern Main Line.”
Tom Londres
back to retire. County resi- dents expend a great deal of energy to find a niche to con- tinue living there. Low costs bring in new busi- nesses and residents alike with median housing prices under half the U.S. average. A Line, the Devon Square SC is ideally located in Radnor and Tredyffrin Townships on Lancaster Ave. The 163,000 s/f shopping center is anchored by national chains like Rite Aid and Acme Markets, along with supporting local retailers. The shopping center is currently 80% leased, with an additional
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania emerges as a great place . . . continued from page 7C
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