Curtis Center could sell for $135M

The Curtis Center, having cinched up two of its main tenants, has come up for sale and could potentially sell for upwards of $135 million or more.

The 13-story, 886,000-square-foot building at 601 Walnut St. in Philadelphia last traded in 2006 for $94 million. It is owned by a fund managed by Apollo Global Real Estate and has been put up for sale a couple of times over the last five years with a deal never being struck. This time around, with the investment market more stable, the building has a better chance of selling.

Robert Fahey, Jerry Kranzel and Francis Coyne of CBRE Inc. are marketing it.

The General Services Administration renewed a lease on roughly 205,000 square feet through 2020 and the Public Defender’s re-upped its lease on 65,000 square feet until 2023. That solidifies two big tenants for the long term. The building is 85 percent leased up giving a prospective investor a value-add opportunity.

The Apollo fund also spent roughly $10 million making capital improvements to the property including upgrading the HVAC and elevator systems and façade improvements.The building has a 300-space below-grade parking garage.

The building has a rich history. It was constructed between 1909 and 1921 by the Curtis Publishing Co. and served as the publishing company’s executive and corporate offices, printing facilities, and other operations until the late 1960s. It also has a 49-foot long by 15-foot high glass mosaic called Dream Garden in its main lobby. The ornate mosaic was created by Louis C. Tiffany in 1916 and based on a painting by Maxfield Parrish.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal