Public Ledger up for sale, could sell for upwards of $60M

Public Ledger, an office building overlooking Independence Mall, has been put up for sale.

The 12-story, 535,000-square-foot building was put in receivership earlier this year and later foreclosed upon. LNR Partners now controls the property. A $42.5 million loan had been outstanding on the property.

Local real estate investor Joe Grasso and a fund managed by Citi Property Investors originally bought the building in 2006 for $43 million. Then, a fund involving Apollo Global Real Estate had control of the property and later relinquished control of it. The property could trade this time around in the $60 million range, according to an estimate.

The property at Sixth and Chestnut streets is about 69 percent occupied. Its largest tenant is the General Services Administration, which leases 133,689 square feet. Other tenants include Liberty Mutual, the Downtown Club, Center City District and Lights of Liberty. It's listed on the National Register as a historic property and was last renovated in 1991.

Prospective buyers have been looking at the property for possible new uses.

"It has been a successful office building for the last 90 years but we're getting a tremendous amount of interest from people who would convert it to multifamily, a hotel or both," said Jerry Kranzel, an investment broker with CBRE Inc. "It's a wonderful opportunity right across from Independence Hall and overlooking Independence Mall."

Others are also looking at it as a value-add office opportunity.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal‏