(For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)
PHILADELPHIA-An investment group headed by Scott G. Homel has added a 10,000-sf building along Chestnut Street east of Broad to its growing Center City portfolio. The Jenkintown-based buyer paid $1.8 million or $180 per sf for the vacant tri-level building.
The Avenue, a discount apparel retailer, recently vacated the property, which is located at 1118 Chestnut St. The building was constructed about 30 years ago, but its facade has since been renovated.
Homel's portfolio includes retail properties at 1529 Walnut and 1519 Chestnut streets in Center City's pricier retail corridor west of Broad Street. "It's undeniable that the retail growth wave is coming east of Broad down the Chestnut Street corridor," he says. Citing current residential development in the area, he adds "we're confident we can re-tenant and reposition this property with stronger demographic indicators in place for retailers to focus on."
Christopher Datz and Anthony Sembello of Jenkintown-based Pintzuk Brown Realty Group Inc. represented Homel's group in the acquisition. Larry Steinberg of Bala Cynwyd-based Michael Salove Co. represented the seller, which is a New York City family trust.
"These blocks on Chestnut Street East are a blank canvas," Datz says. "They offer materially larger floor plates for bigger square-footage retailers. We like the odds of the continued growth of the retail corridor moving east and quickly."
Datz tells GlobeSt.com that "we anticipate a rent rate of about $50 per sf."
Slightly less than a year ago, two upscale furniture stores, West Elm and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, opened at 1330 and 1308 Chestnut St. respectively. At that time, on condition of anonymity, a retail broker told GlobeSt.com the asking rate on the eastern stretch of Chestnut was between $30 per sf and $35 per sf, which represented a 30% increase compared with the year before. Salove is the rental agent for 1118 Chestnut. Pintzuk Brown will manage the property.
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