PhilaPort seeks to buy Navy Yard buildings for $22.6 million and relocate its headquarters
PhilaPort says the move will establish a maritime complex “in the heart of the Navy Yard.” The buildings are currently owned by the family of the late logistics executive Dennis Colgan Jr.
The Pennsylvania agency that owns Philadelphia’s seaport facilities plans to buy three Navy Yard buildings at the foot of South Broad Street for $22.6 million, as it seeks to relocate its headquarters from Port Richmond.
The board of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PhilaPort) voted Wednesday to authorize staff to purchase the properties at 5101 and 5115R S. Broad St., which are owned by Delaware-based 5101 South Broad Street Associates L.P., a partnership controlled by the family of the late logistics executive Dennis J. Colgan Jr.
PhilaPort CEO Rich Lazer said in a statement that the goal of moving the authority’s operations to the Navy Yard is “to create a comprehensive maritime campus with the space we need to grow, expand our reach, attract new business, and create more good-paying jobs.”
“This move is an investment in PhilaPort’s long-term growth and in the future of Philadelphia’s maritime industry,” said Lazer, who took the port authority’s top job in June.
Agency documents say the properties — including a 1909 building that was once home to a submarine periscope factory — are currently occupied by tenants under leases that extend through 2028 and 2029. The leases generate $1.8 million in annual rental revenue, according to PhilaPort.
Property records show that as of last year, the tenants included logistics firm Geodis USA Inc. and engineering firm Q.E.D. Systems Inc.
PhilaPort owns marine terminals, warehouses, and other facilities along the Delaware River from Port Richmond to South Philly. Its new headquarters would bring the agency closer to key assets including the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal and Mustin Yard, the rail yard it bought last year with $90 million in state funds.
It wasn’t immediately clear what might happen to PhilaPort’s current headquarters in Port Richmond.
The authority’s board on Wednesday authorized staff to borrow $18 million from First Trust Bank to finance the acquisition. The agency — which is funded by rental revenue it generates from leases with tenants — plans to make a $5 million down payment.
PhilaPort said the $22.6 million purchase price was subject to certain conditions.
The current owner is a limited partnership controlled by Dennis J. Colgan III, a Riverton property manager, and his sister Lisa Colgan Antonucci, according to property records. They couldn’t be reached for comment.
Their father, Colgan Jr., of Moorestown, died in 2024 at 84. He started a customs brokerage in Philadelphia in 1970 with partner Wolf Barth and later bought back Barth’s stock. Barthco International grew into a global logistics company with 700 employees.
Colgan moved his company’s headquarters from Center City to the Navy Yard in 2004, converting the former submarine periscope factory into a 45,000-square-foot office building overlooking the Delaware River.
Colgan’s partnership acquired the 150,000-square-foot property at 5101 S. Broad St. in 2003 for $300,000 from an affiliate of Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. (PIDC), a public-private economic development corporation.
He said at the time that his company spent $10 million purchasing, restoring, and equipping the building.
Colgan sold Barthco to Ozburn-Hessey Logistics in 2006 for $75 million, The Inquirer reported, but retained ownership of the building. OHL was later acquired by Geodis, which now occupies the property.
In 2007, Colgan bought the 80,500-square-foot property at 5115R S. Broad St. for $185,000 from a PIDC affiliate.
Staff writer Jake Blumgart and news researcher Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.
