The selling price is undisclosed, but, according to published reports, it was in the $30-million range. This transaction puts to rest area residents' fears that the prize parcel might be sold to a developer and also allows the seller, American College, to consolidate operations into the 62,920-sf MDRT Foundation Hall Building on the campus under a long-term leaseback arrangement. In addition, Villanova University will maintain its long-term lease for a 22,000-sf building on the campus. All six buildings contain an aggregate of about 250,000 sf.

Because a majority of American's continuing education programs are now offered over the internet, as GlobeSt.com previously reported, it put the campus up for sale in late 2006. In addition to its wish to lease one of the six buildings on the site, Peter Stevens, EVP of the area office of CB Richard Ellis, tells GlobeSt.com that American also stipulated that the campus continue its educational use and that the sale not be subject to drawn out due diligence regarding zoning for expansion.

Stevens and CBRE associates Valerie Bowman and Jim Pasquarella led the marketing team and negotiated the sale on American's behalf. "The campus represents one of the best located parcels along the East Coast of the US," he says. The landscaped campus, which includes specimen trees, gardens, a stream and a pond, was master-planned by the Philadelphia-based architectural firm of Mitchell/Giurgola Associates, which also designed its major buildings.