CBRE Wins 800,000-SF Two Liberty Place Assignment

PHILADELPHIA-San Francisco-based Shorenstein Co. handed over leasing of Two Liberty Place to a team from the local office of CB Richard Ellis. Two thirds, or about 800,000 sf, of the 57-story, 1.2-million-sf trophy at 1601 Chestnut Street will be vacant in first-quarter 2006.

This year prime tenant Cigna Corp. decided to maintain its headquarters in the building, but downsize from about 633,000 sf to just over 440,000 sf. At the same time, Ace Ltd., which acquired Cigna during Cigna’s tenure in the building and occupied approximately half of the property under a master lease, is relocating to a building it acquired at 463 Walnut St.

This occurs during a period off ascending vacancies in the CBD office market. A third-quarter report from the local office of Cushman & Wakefield puts the overall vacancy rate at 17.6%, “the highest level since 1995,” before factoring in the looming Two Liberty Place vacancy. Approximately 25% of Brandywine’s Cira Centre tower, now under construction, has also yet to be leased. It, too, will be in the competitive fray, which could be exacerbated even further by any decision to move forward with construction of One Pennsylvania Plaza, the tower Malvern, PA-based Liberty Property Trust hopes to develop for Comcast, which would take just half of the initially projected more than one million sf.