A real estate company that prefers to work quietly behind
the scenes has bought Destination Maternity Corp.’s headquarters in the
Northern Liberties neighborhood in Philadelphia for roughly $14 million.
Alliance Partners HSP of Bryn Mawr, Pa., closed Friday on
the 220,000-square-foot building at 5th and Spring Garden streets.
While Alliance Partners has initially focused on the
suburbs, the company is shifting its strategy and will buy urban properties in
Philadelphia. The Destination Maternity headquarters and warehouse is its first
buy in the city.
The real estate company likes to find problem, in-fill
properties and convert them into what Previdi calls Class A-minus office space.
It’s space that looks really good without a lot of glitz and at reasonable
rents, Previdi said.
The opportunity to buy Destination Maternity’s property came
about when the retailer decided to relocate into a new 74,000-square-foot
building it leased in Moorestown, N.J. It will move into the building, which is
under construction, sometime next year.
Destination Maternity’s building on Spring Garden is a great
real estate opportunity, Previdi said.
“What did it for us is the aerial,” he said about getting a
bird’s eye view of the property. “It kind of hits you.”
The property is on the outer ring of Center City in a
neighborhood that continues to receive investment in residential and retail
projects. It’s a large site that is also within walking distance of the center
of downtown.
“We’re not clear on what to do with it but we know what ever
we do there value will be created,” Previdi said. But that gives Alliance
Partners some freedom since its partners self-fund all of its acquisitions and
redevelopment work.
The firm will initially talk to prospective tenants to see
if the space might work for them. It will also explore whether residential or
retail would work there or even a same-day delivery warehouse for a company.
Peter Kelsen, an attorney at Blank Rome representing
Alliance Partners, said his client is evaluating opportunities for possibly
rezoning the property that would open it up to other uses. It is now zoned
industrial, which allows the existing use of warehouse and distribution space.
Rezoning it could let the developer consider turning it into residential,
commercial, office or even live-work space.
“For us, it is gold,” Previdi said. “For someone else, it’s
copper.”
Who is Alliance Partners?
Alliance Partners was formed about five years ago by three
real estate veterans: Clay Hamlin III, Jay H. Shidler and Richard Previdi.
Hamlin and Shidler formed the Hamlin/Shidler Investment
Corp. that was a vehicle to acquire real estate and later helped form Corporate
Office Properties Trust Inc., a real estate investment trust in Maryland that
concentrates on leasing space to the government.
Shidler was also involved in founding other real estate
firms including TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, which is now iStar Financial
Inc., First Industrial Realty Trust, Primus Guaranty Ltd. and Pacific Office
Properties Trust. Prior to forming Alliance Partners, Previdi served as a
principal of several real estate firms including Wellsford Commercial
Properties Trust.
Alliance Partners is better known locally for its
redevelopment work at the former Unisys Corp. campus in Blue Bell, Pa., that is
now called Arborcrest. It oversaw and managed the redevelopment of that
property for COPT, which owns the office campus.
It also bought, gutted and redeveloped Trinity Corporate
Center, a three-building 125,000-square-foot complex at Swedesford Road and Route
202 in Malvern, Pa. That property has been renamed ArborRidge.
Another project it worked on is Station Park, a
425,000-square-foot building that, like Trinity Corporate Center, had
experienced dogged vacancies and a tough reputation in the office market.
Station Park at 330-399 S. Warminster Road in Hatboro, Pa., saw Conti Mortgage
vacate it and later Countrywide Financial depart from the property.
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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