Senior directors James Sheehan, James Vesey and Jerome Kranzel in the locally based capital markets group of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller and also procured the buyer. "There was tremendous interest in the property," Sheehan tells GlobeSt.com, "because it's exceptionally well located and because it's an interesting building, which has been converted into a very cool 21st century mixed-use facility."

The one- and two-story building was originally developed in 1926 as a factory for renowned radio manufacturer A. Atwater Kent. Its saw-tooth architectural profile immediately gave it landmark status. In the 1980s, it was renovated and converted into a mixed-use facility that is currently 94% occupied by a diverse mix of warehouse, office and retail tenants.

The largest is the City of Philadelphia, which uses space to store all of the city's voting machines. Material Culture, a retailer of salvage and antique furnishings from around the world, operates a 70,000-sf showroom in the center. Temple Physicians and Resources for Human Development are among the office tenants.

PDDC's location at 4700 Wissahickon Ave. in the East Falls neighborhood also added to its appeal, according to Sheehan. It neighbors Budd Commerce Center, which is Conshohocken-based Preferred Real Estate Investments' redevelopment of the former Budd plant site. "These adaptive re-use projects are attracting capital from national real estate investors," Sheehan says. Furthermore, an interchange of the Route 1 Expressway has been added, significantly improving access.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.