Ownership stake in Wanamaker building to sell for $200M: Sources

Rubenstein Partners, a Philadelphia real estate firm, is reportedly poised to buy an ownership interest in the historic Wanamaker building in Center City.

The seller is a partnership involving Amerimar Enterprises Inc. of Philadelphia and what used to be known as Behringer Harvard but is referred to as Tier REIT of Dallas.

The Wanamaker building sits across from City Hall.

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The Wanamaker building sits across from City Hall.

The transaction, which could come in around $200 million, is expected to have Amerimar continue as part of the ownership entity, according to several real estate sources. Officials at Rubenstein and Amerimar couldn’t be reached for comment.

The ownership stake that is being sold has traded hands before.

Amerimar Enterprises has had an ownership interest in the historic building since 1997 when it formed a partnership with Angelo Gordon & Co. and Cargill Financial Services to buy a majority stake in it.

Since the Amerimar partnership got involved with the building, a series of investors have acquired the interest originally owned by Angelo Gordon though Amerimar has continued to be part of the property.

Cargill bought Angelo Gordon’s interest in the property, and then in 2003, IPC US Income Commercial REIT acquired Cargill’s share of the building. In 2007, Behringer Harvard took over the portion owned by IPC. Behringer Harvard is the entity now known as Tier REIT.

The 12-story building at 100 Penn Square East totals 1.3 million square feet, making it one of the largest office structures in the city's Central Business District.

Including its 660-space parking garage, the building totals 1.9 million square feet. It is 97 percent occupied and aside from office tenants, Macy's occupies space in the building.

A predecessor to Rubensteins Partners used to be one of the largest owners of office buildings in Philadelphia until they sold the properties in 2004. It has tiptoed back into the market and last year bought what had been known as Penn Mutual Towers but rebranded as One Washington Square.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal