12th and Chestnut building sells for $5.5M

An affiliate of SSH Real Estate bought a portion of the White building at 12th and Chestnut streets in Center City for $5.55 million.

The seller was Goldman Properties.

The transaction included a retail component totaling 12,500 square feet and five residential condominiums in the building at 105 S. 12th St. The retail and residential combined total 20,000 square feet and that is what traded.

The entire five-story structure totals 55,000 square feet and was converted into 24 residential condominiums in 2005 by Goldman Properties. The developer was only able to sell 19 of them when the bottom fell out of the condo market and decided to rent out the five unsold units.

For now, the SSH affiliate will continue to rent out the residential units and look to eventually sell them once the condo market improves, said Pete Soens, a partner in SSH.

The retail space is leased to six tenants including Philly Cupcake and Kitchenette. A 4,500-square-foot fitness center occupies the mezzanine level.

This is the third real estate play SSH has made in that immediate neighborhood. It converted 1201 Chestnut St. into 98 apartments and is a partner in Girard Square, which stretches a full city block along Chestnut Street between 11th and 12th streets.

Other activity is afoot in that area with Brickstone Realty Corp. embarking on a mixed-use redevelopment of several properties at 11th and Chestnut.

“We’re excited about the changes underway,” Soens said.

The White building was constructed in 1867 and had been the headquarters of S.S. White Manufacturing Co., which made dental instruments. It was the first project Goldman Properties redeveloped as part of its master plan to create what has now been dubbed Midtown Village.

Source:  Philadelphia Business Journal