Monday, February 8, 2016

NoLibs development site sells for big number



The Klein Co. has acquired a block-sized development site in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia for $7.25 million.

The 2.8-acre property at 1300-1354 N. 2nd St. is known as SOKO Lofts for its location South Kensington. The site as been approved for 320 apartments in three buildings.


“There was a lot of interest from Philadelphia investors as well as those from around the country,” said Mike Margolis, an investment broker with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank who arranged the sale along with colleagues Brett Segal, Dave Dolan and Jeff Mack.

The brokers represented Canus Corp., which took the property through the approval process. The parcel is bounded by 2nd Street to the east, American Street to the west and Master and Thompson streets to the north and south and has been environmentally remediated. It is the former Absco Inc. steel site.
Canus, which has offices in Philadelphia and Montclair, N.J., had a project approved for residential development before the housing boom crashed. Its original plans in 2007 and 2008 called for a $60 million, mixed-use project called Viridian that would have had 160 residential condos and 16 artist studios but that project fell by the wayside.

Canus took the site through another zoning process and put it up for sale late in 2013. At one point had planned to move forward with a $70 million apartment development but decided to sell the parcel instead.

There are some investors who want to stick to Center City but those who understand the Northern Liberties market were very interested in the site, Margolis said. Klein is expected to move forward with the project later this year.

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