Blatstein sells controlling interest in Piazza, Liberties Walk
Developer Bart Blatstein, whose investment in Northern Liberties help to turn a scruffy neighborhood on the edge of Center City into a hip destination, has sold 60 percent of his holdings there to a New York investor group.
Developer Bart Blatstein, whose investment in Northern Liberties help to turn a scruffy neighborhood on the edge of Center City into a hip destination, has sold 60 percent of his holdings there to a New York investor group.
Blatstein's Tower Investments Inc. said today it has sold a controlling interest in The Piazza at Schmidt's and Liberties Walk at Schmidt to Kushner Companies.
Blatstein did not disclose a purchase price. The property in the deal, however, is thought to have a value of about $130 million.
The acquisition is a joint venture between Kushner and Oaktree Capital Management L.P., a real estate investment fund.
Blatstein is among the six contenders for the city's second casino license. His project, anchored by the former headquarters of The Inquirer at 400 N. Broad Street, would feature a casino as the focal point of a entertainment complex with shopping, dining and theaters.
Asked if he would direct proceeds from the Northern Liberties sale for the casino project, Blatstein said only that the sale "allows me to focus more on The Provence."
He added, "We have never not completed a deal."
Jared Kushner, who is married to Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, is a principal of the Kushner Companies, a New York-based private real estate investment firm.
The Piazza consists of 430 residential units, 100,000 square feet of commercial space and an 80,000-square-foot plaza.
Liberties Walk covers four blocks and includes 72 residential and 30 commercial units.
"It's a great time to be selling multi-family assets," Blatstein said.