Keswick Village sells for $6.2M, gets new owner

A Philadelphia real estate company has acquired what many know as Keswick Village, a landmark mixed-use development in Glenside, Pa., for $6.2 million.

Franklin Residential bought the property through a bankruptcy court auction. It had been owned for years by Arasu Rajaratnam, a Philadelphia area real estate investor. Lisa Silveri of Agency Real Estate Partners, who had been looking for a buyer for the property for the last five years, was involved in the transaction.

Steve Balin, who is the son of Philadelphia real estate investor and developer Ken Balin of AMC Delancey, operates Franklin Residential with two partners — Justin Turner and Steve Wennik. The younger Balin's business is not affiliated with AMC Delancey.

Balin said he was interested in buying "something big" and enlisted Silveri to keep an eye out for any opportunities. That's when Silveri brought up Keswick Village, a property that doesn't exactly fit in a tidy real estate category.

"When she told me about Keswick Village, I was skeptical," Balin said. "Then, when I saw it, I was like: 'I get it.' "

It took seven months for a deal to get finalized because it had to go through certain legal procedures but Balin was committed and didn't waver, Silveri said.

The historic Tudor-style village, which sits on 2.5 acres, was constructed in 1929 and designed by Horace Trumbauer. It consists of:

A pad that has a Susquehanna bank on it

A two-story, 18,000-square-foot building with six retail stores and 11 apartments

A three-story, 38,000-square-foot building that has seven stores and 15 apartments. Those structures will be rebranded as Keswick Commons.

Franklin Residential has big plans for the property.

"We have spent a lot of time learning what the community wants," Balin said. "We're not coming in to change Keswick Village but to be part of something to make it better."

The real estate company plans to spend nearly $2 million to renovate the interiors and exteriors of the existing retail and residential spaces. Two leases are out that have the potential to fill much of the vacant retail space.

The second phase involves constructing 65 to 80 age-restricted apartments on top of two to three stories of parking. That estimated $14 million project still needs to go through the local approval process and likely won't get underway for a couple of years.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal