Apollo Global Real Estate, New York, hopes to raise more than $180 million from the sale of the Curtis Center and the Public Ledger Building on Washington Square.
That's less than the combined $220 million then-owners Citigroup and Joseph Grasso's Walnut Real Estate tried to raise in a failed attempt to sell the onetime publishing center turned office complex in 2008.
But it's still a lot more than the $137 million investors led by Citi paid to buy the buildings in 2006. Apollo took over the buildings as part of a $3 billion property portfolio it bought from Citi last fall.
Apollo last week hired broker Jones Lang LaSalle to sell the 885,000-square-foot Curtis building and the Public Ledger building. They're asking $150 a square foot at Curtis, with its soaring atrium and Maxwell Parish's Dream Garden stained-glass lobby mural, and $100 a square foot for Public Ledger, according to people familiar with the effort.
The sellers are looking for investors willing to pay prices similar to the $145 million Brooklyn deal syndicator David Werner recently offered for 1700 Market St. (880,000 sq ft plus parking garage), and Lower Merion-based Alex Schwartz's offer of more than $125 a square foot, or more than $63 million, for 503,000-sq-ft Two Penn Center (1500 JFK Boulevard), according to people familiar with the offers.
Neither of those deals have been concluded. Both Werner and Schwartz have in the past put together investor syndicates from Orthodox Jewish communities. Neither returned calls seeking comment.
Philadelphia has attracted investors turned off by expensive New York and Washington real estate. But even as its affluent resident population and tourism base has increased over the past two decades, Center City has failed to attract more new business tenants than it's lost, and rents and occupancy in Center City have been nearly flat in those years.
Past Werner deals include the former SmithKline factory at 1500 Spring Garden and the Widener building south of City Hall, which were put back on the market as improved office space. Past Schwartz deals include the Land Title Building and 8 Penn Center, which were repositioned as cheaper office space.
That's less than the combined $220 million then-owners Citigroup and Joseph Grasso's Walnut Real Estate tried to raise in a failed attempt to sell the onetime publishing center turned office complex in 2008.
But it's still a lot more than the $137 million investors led by Citi paid to buy the buildings in 2006. Apollo took over the buildings as part of a $3 billion property portfolio it bought from Citi last fall.
Apollo last week hired broker Jones Lang LaSalle to sell the 885,000-square-foot Curtis building and the Public Ledger building. They're asking $150 a square foot at Curtis, with its soaring atrium and Maxwell Parish's Dream Garden stained-glass lobby mural, and $100 a square foot for Public Ledger, according to people familiar with the effort.
The sellers are looking for investors willing to pay prices similar to the $145 million Brooklyn deal syndicator David Werner recently offered for 1700 Market St. (880,000 sq ft plus parking garage), and Lower Merion-based Alex Schwartz's offer of more than $125 a square foot, or more than $63 million, for 503,000-sq-ft Two Penn Center (1500 JFK Boulevard), according to people familiar with the offers.
Neither of those deals have been concluded. Both Werner and Schwartz have in the past put together investor syndicates from Orthodox Jewish communities. Neither returned calls seeking comment.
Philadelphia has attracted investors turned off by expensive New York and Washington real estate. But even as its affluent resident population and tourism base has increased over the past two decades, Center City has failed to attract more new business tenants than it's lost, and rents and occupancy in Center City have been nearly flat in those years.
Past Werner deals include the former SmithKline factory at 1500 Spring Garden and the Widener building south of City Hall, which were put back on the market as improved office space. Past Schwartz deals include the Land Title Building and 8 Penn Center, which were repositioned as cheaper office space.
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Jenice Armstrong | Columnist
