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March 15, 2005
Written by Cassandra
Wright
Two Redeveloped
West Chester Buildings Sell for $2.4M
Third is Under Contact at The Village at Franklin
Corners
The Village at Franklin Corners sold two of
its four buildings for $2.38 million. The
historic property was originally built around
the turn of the 20th century and began a complete
renovation around May of last year by Franklin
Corners Associates LLC.
Each building’s redevelopment boasts form
with function, with contemporary design features
such as pitched roofs, exposed wood beams,
and exposed brick walls, as well as efficiencies
that included efficient floor plans, high-end
connectivity, and completely new mechanical
systems.
The developer, Tom Deignan, has a long history
of redeveloping overlooked properties that
include retail, office and multifamily, and
was especially excited about the Franklin
Corners project.
"Franklin Corners offered a great opportunity
to take buildings which were obsolete and
turn them into state of the art buildings
while maintaining a historical integrity,"
said Deignan. "In a market which has an abundance
of traditional vacant space, we have sold
two buildings (with a third under contract)
at premium sale prices by providing architecturally
interesting buildings which satisfy today’s
entrepreneur. Furthermore, the redevelopment
of Franklin Corners has dramatically improved
not only the aesthetics of the neighborhood
but helped push recent home sales to record
levels."
Prior to completing construction on the first
building, two of the buildings were under
agreement and welcomed its new tenants following
construction completion. The 9,855-square-foot
Mill Building at 301 Lacey St. sold for $1.7
million to Pinnacle Reach LLC and will be
occupied by BYL Inc., a financial services
firm that is relocating and expanding from
its former space on Airport Road.
The 3,500-square-foot Executive Building at
237 Lacey St. sold for $680,000 to Hidden
Farm Associates LLC and will be home to Brandon
Associates Inc., a sales engineering and marketing
firm that will be doubling their former space
in The Executive Building.
NAI Geis Realty Group, Inc.’s senior vice
president, Dave McFadden, attributes the quick
sale not only to the superb development work,
but also to the dramatic rise in interest
in office building sales in a sluggish leasing
environment. "We’re noticing a trend overall
of a high level of office building sales and
an ongoing interest by small to mid-sized
office users within the last year, especially
in West Chester," McFadden said.
The two remaining buildings are nearly complete:
the 4,200-square-foot Milk House Building
at 501 S. Franklin St., and the 12,000-square-foot
Railroad Building at 515 S. Franklin St.,
which will be sold as three office condominium
units ranging in size from 3,500 square feet
to 5,000 square feet, based upon the high
demand for smaller office suites.
NAI Geis Realty Group's David McFadden and
Adam Shute represented the seller, Franklin
Corners Associates LLC, and Bob Fox of Fox
Commercial Real Estate represented the buyer
for The Mill Building sale.
NAI Geis Realty Group was the sole broker
for sale of The Executive Building.
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