Former Lancaster Preferred Partners building sold

The former Lancaster Preferred Partners building in East Hempfield Township has a new owner.

Patriot Equities, based in the Philadelphia suburb of Wayne, purchased the 240,528 square foot building at 2919 Old Tree Road for $4.725 million, according to a mortgage filed with Lancaster County this week.

The company plans to make some upgrades and will then either lease or resell the property, partner and chief investment officer Geoffrey Gardner told the Intelligencer Journal/New Era on Friday.

“Fundamentally, the building is in very good shape,” he said.

The renovations will bring the total budget for the acquisition to about $7.5 million, he said.

The building’s configuration, with loading docks and office space at both ends, makes it very flexible, he said. It could be adapted for many different uses, for either one or multiple tenants, he said.

Patriot has already gotten a number of inquiries from potential clients, but nothing is firm, he said.

The industrial building was built in 1985 for Dana Corp. The company assembled Mack Truck axles there under the name Lancaster Preferred Partners.

In September 2012, Lancaster Preferred Partners shut down the operation, idling 211 workers. The building has been vacant since.

Over its history, Patriot Equities has acquired more than 20 million square feet of corporate and industrial real estate.

Among its holdings is the 1.5 million square foot former Grantley plant in York, sold by Johnson Controls to Patriot in 2007 and renamed the Patriot Tech Center. Johnson Controls remains a tenant, occupying about 60 percent of the space, Patriot said.

Source: Lancasteronline