Portion of 123 S. Broad comes up for sale

A portion of 123 S. Broad St. in Philadelphia has come up for sale, giving the current landlord of the remainder of the building an opportunity to finally own the entire structure.

A total of 222,975 square feet over seven floors is up for grabs in 123 S. Broad and the adjacent Witherspoon building. It includes 144,825 square feet of office space and 78,150 square feet of retail space. The ground-floor has a dramatic, three-story classic bank branch with grand 36-foot ceilings as well as polished Italian marble walls and floors.

Wells Fargo & Co. leases the space through September 2020, providing a value-add opportunity for a buyer if the bank doesn’t renew. With bank branches shrinking to around 3,000 square feet or less, it's surmised a branch on this scale and size isn’t something Wells Fargo would continue to maintain.

The portion of the building on the market is owned by Jack Resnick & Sons of New York. It bought the space in 2006. Doug Rodio of JLL is marketing it.

The remainder of the building is owned by SSH Real Estate, a Philadelphia firm that in 2008 bought floors six through 30 in 123 S. Broad as well as floors six through 11 of the Witherspoon building for $57.7 million. In all, SSH owns 626,594 square feet of office space.

It's likely the real estate firm would make a run for the Resnick piece though a representative from SSH declined to comment.

Referred to as the Wells Fargo building, 123 S. Broad is 30 stories and totals roughly 892,000 square feet. It had a starring role in the Eddie Murphy movie “Trading Places.”

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal