Investor looking to buy 1700 Market

Shorenstein Properties is reportedly looking to pick up another Center City office building.

The San Francisco real estate investor has set its sights on 1700 Market St., a 32-story, 842,000-square-foot building, according to several market sources. The property could trade for a tad more than $200 million, according to people familiar with the situation though it couldn't be confirmed.

In February, a partnership that involves Nightingale Properties of New York put 1700 Market up for sale. It had bought the building in 2011 for $143.5 million.

After taking a hiatus, Shorenstein appears as if it is making an even bigger commitment to Philadelphia. Earlier this year, it paid $185 million to buy 1818 Market St., a 37-story, 940,000-square-foot office building and is putting another $20 million into the property for upgrades.

Executives from the company had said at the time they were looking at other properties to buy in Center City.\

There are big plans afoot for 1700 Market that are expected to proceed even if the building trades hands. A roughly 30,000-square-foot addition has been planned for an existing plaza area that will house two restaurants -— lll Forks and Cantina Loredo.

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To make room for this, some existing retail tenants were relocated or had their leases renegotiated. A new space is currently being constructed to move a day care center. Once that is complete, work will begin.

“We could be under construction in the next 30 days,” said Michael Salove of MSC Retail, which oversaw the leasing of the new retail space.

Once construction does begin, the project is expected to be completed over 12 to 14 months.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal