PHILADELPHIA-Penn Jersey Paper Co. (PJP) has some brand new digs. Their built-to-suit headquarters and distribution facility is finishing its construction and readying itself for a May 17^th, 2011 move-in date. The 255,336-square-foot building is keeping the distributor within Philadelphia as it moves out of its current Red Lion Road headquarters.

The construction took off eight months ago on 30 acres at 9355 Blue Grass Rd., which was acquired by a joint venture of Dermody Properties and Boston-based Great Point Investors LLC. DP Partners was the developer while CB Richard Ellis' Steve Marzullo, Patrick Green and Michael Mullen negotiated the deal with PJP, which signed a 15-year lease for the property. DP would not release the cost of the lease, but asking rates for flex property average in the $9 per square foot range.

The new facility was built specifically for PJP and expands their space by 75,000 square feet over their current location. The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., a non-profit corporation, assisted with finding the site location within the Keystone Opportunity Zone. The KOZ gives tax abatements for 10 years following the move-in date. The site was located by CBRE in a wide-ranging search explains CBRE's SVP of investments Steve Marzullo. He notes that it was a challenge to find the location, since there "were a lot of attractive possiblities out there." The win for Philadelphia, however, is keeping 250 regional jobs and added 230 construction jobs during the process.