In a tour of two fully renovated turn-of-the-century office buildings at the center, Mike Maier, manager of business development for PIDC, said, "we knocked down the ugly and kept the good." This is beyond dispute in the 35,000-sf Commander's building with a marble entryway, fireplaces, intricately carved paneling, and vaulted ceilings with crown molding.
A second approximately 40,000-sf renovation across the street features four vast open interiors ranging from 8,000 sf to 12,000 sf with exposed brick walls, high ceilings, and arched windows. Just 15,000 sf of the Commander's property remain available, according to David Healy of the local office of Insignia/ESG, and leasing of the second building is under discussion.
Commander's rental rate is $16 per sf, plus electric, and the asking rate for the second building is $20 per sf net. Both provide significant tax reductions and other incentives, including KOZ status. Insignia and locally based P&A Associates are marketing the properties.
Meanwhile, in partnership with locally based Synterra Partners, Malvern, PA-based Liberty Property Trust is developing a $150-million, master-planned, 70-acre, nine-building office park in the eastern section of the property. And the 700,000-sf industrial sector of the complex is 90% occupied, according to Maier.
Currently, he said 3,200 naval engineers, the last vestiges of the property's original occupants, remain there on the job. That contingent is, however, in jeopardy in the Defense Department's recently announced new round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). Earlier BRAC rounds cost the city more than 10,000 jobs.
Consequently, PIDC is charged with leading the city's efforts to retain not only the 3,200 navy staffers at the Naval Business Center, but also another 7,000 employed at the Defense Supply Center on Robbins Ave. in northeast Philadelphia. In doing so, PIDC's BRAC specialists will head a steering group consisting of representatives from the city's commerce department, local military operations, area congressional delegations, and Washington, DC-based lobbyists.
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