East Falls Mixed-Use Landmark Fetches $28M

PHILADELPHIA-Equivest Management Inc., the locally based firm that represents the owner and manages the Philadelphia Design and Distribution Center, has sold the 677,000-sf asset for just shy of $28.5 million, or about $42 per sf. The buyer is a partnership controlled by Brooklyn, NY-based Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates.

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.