Penn Liberty is relocating from its current headquarters at 353 West Lancaster Ave. to 19,500 sf in building one at Devon Square. The reason for the relocation, according to Rich Gottlieb, senior vice president of development and operations for Keystone, is the company's growth. According to Gottlieb, Penn Liberty is doubling their space requirements and wanted the option to continue growing. The company signed a 15-year lease and will house its corporate headquarters on the second floor and a branch of the bank in 2,000 sf on the first floor. Penn Liberty, which was represented in the transaction by first vice president Andy Spillard and associate Mitch Reading of CB Richard Ellis, will take possession of the space on Dec. 1, 2008.
Merrill Lynch, which currently occupies 25,364 sf on the first floor of building one, has renewed their lease and taken an additional 3,000 sf on the second floor. Merrill Lynch was represented by Matt Feeney of CRESA Partners. The company will move into its space on the second floor in January 2009. Gene McHale and Steve Compton of Beacon Commercial Real Estate represented Keystone in both transactions.
"The Main Line is a very prestigious place to be, and there are a number of buildings along Route 30 that get very good rents," Gottlieb tells GlobeSt.com. "Our business plan all along has been to provide a class A product because it wasn't really being offered. Having the kind of companies we're talking about taking space and Merrill Lynch, who is our anchor tenant, taking additional space and extending their lease term shows you the viability of the site and that the tenants are happy and want to be here."
Devon Square is a 140,000-sf, class A office complex that was acquired by Keystone for $23 million in March 2005. The company immediately set about renovating the property, to the tune of about $10 million, according to Gottlieb The renovations included the installation of new HVAC systems, class A finishes and a new two-story atrium lobby in building one. The property is located near rail lines, bus routes and shopping, and there is a Marriott Courtyard in the complex. With the expansion of Merrill Lynch and the addition of Penn Liberty, the project is now 70% leased. According to Gottlieb, further leases are expected in the near future.
"We've had good activity in the project," he says. "This [deal with Penn Liberty] was very helpful because we've had a number of smaller tenants move in and they were doing long-term leases and were very happy. This gave us an opportunity to do a larger lease and take a big block of space. There's a lot of leasing momentum behind this too."
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