Philly tower yields $12 million profit in 30 months

Philadelphia-based Resource Real Estate has sold the Charter Court at East Falls apartment complex, two 11-story buildings at 5450 Wissahickon Ave. near the Queen Lane rail station (plus 6 stores, parking, pool), to North Jersey investor Treetop Development for $47.25 million, or $94,124 a unit.

That's a profit of about $12 million, since August 2011, for Resource, a property arm of the Ed and Betsy Cohen family's energy-real estate-finance business network. Resource and its investment partners bought the property, earlier known as School Lane House, for around $30 million. Resource also paid for upgrades worth $5 million, according to brokerage Marcus & Millichap, which represented both sides in the deal.

Broker Ridge MacLaren, who represented Resource with Clark Talone and Andrew Townsend, said in a statement the sale was a sign outside investors expect to be able to "grow rents significantly in the hot East Falls neighborhood," which is linked by Septa commuter rail to Center City and by the Schuylkill Expressway to office centers all around. Treetop plans a $7 million renovation