Arch St. Parking Lot Sells for MXD Project

PHILADELPHIA-In partnership with a national real estate equity fund, locally based Walnut Street Capital has acquired the 1.5-acre parcel at 1800 Arch St. with plans to turn the current surface parking lot into a mixed-use development. The seller, Verizon, once planned to use the property for a sister tower to its 53-story Bell Atlantic building at 1717 Arch.

The price for the 70,000 sf of land is undisclosed. Joseph Grasso, who heads Walnut Street Capital, formerly named J. Grasso Properties, tells GlobeSt.com, “Verizon paid $26 million for the property, and we paid more than that. We think we got a bargain,” he adds. Robert Fahey and Lizann McGowan of the local office of CB Richard Ellis represented Verizon in the sale, and Walnut Street Capital was represented in house.

The lot is located across the street from the nearly completed 57-story, 1.2-million-sf Comcast Center, which Grasso terms “breathtaking, deserving of a better neighbor.” The parking lot is zoned for approximately 750,000 sf of retail, residential, office and/or hotel.