Comcast buys majority stake in its Center City HQ, sources say

In the spring of 2006, Liberty Property Trust sold an 80 percent stake in Comcast Center in a deal that valued the Philadelphia high-rise at $505 million.

Now, nearly eight years later, several sources say there’s a new owner of that stake: Comcast Corp.

The cable company, through a spokesman, said it wasn’t “commenting on that” without elaborating further.

How much Comcast paid for its interest is unknown but market sources believe the 58-story, 1.25 million-square-foot office tower is worth upwards of $600 million, making it hands down one of the most valuable office buildings in Philadelphia. It’s the newest and largest office building in Center City and, Comcast, announcing last week that it will construct a new $1.2 billion skyscraper a block away only enhances the value of the property. In fact, the new Comcast Center of Innovation & Technology is expected to give real estate in that part of the Central Business District a boost.

Back in 2006, Liberty Property sold the equity interest to CommerzLeasing und Immobilien AG, a wholly owned subsidiary of German-based Commerzbank AG. Liberty continued on as the managing partner of a joint venture called Liberty/Commerz 1701 JFK Boulevard L.P. A sale of the entire building or a joint venture in the development of the building had always been an option Liberty had considered when it broke ground on Comcast’s headquarters.

The Malvern, Pa., real estate investment trust entered into an arrangement with Comcast for it latest skyscraper where Comcast will own 80 percent of the property and Liberty will control 20 percent.

Source: The Philadelphia Business Journal