PHILADELPHIA — College Manor, a landmark apartment complex in Center City that was constructed at the turn of the 19th century, sold for $8.6 million.
College Manor totals three buildings at 9th and Pine streets and Spruce Street and has 86 apartment units. The buildings at 9th and Pine overlook Pennsylvania Hospital. The apartments were fully occupied at the time of sale.
The property, which caters to students and young professionals, has been owned by one family for three generations, said Josh Nadel of Mallin Panchelli Nadel, who arranged the transaction with colleagues Russ Panchelli and Ruth Lief Miller. The seller’s grandparents bought the buildings in the Depression and operated them as rooming houses. The seller’s parents later converted them into apartments. Their two sons decided it was time to sell, Nadel said.
“For three generations, these apartments have been their livelihood,” he said. “The timing was right for them to make some changes.”
Nadel declined to disclose the names of the sellers or buyer, but both are based in Philadelphia. The buyer is an owner, investor and developer of apartments and has expertise is renovating historical properties.
“He saw the merit of the properties and the beauty of the properties,” Nadel said, adding: “The numbers also made sense.”
The downtown apartment market has showed strength over the last year as people have begun to return to renting instead to buying. The new owner plans to retain the historical features of the buildings and renovate units as they become vacant.
Most of the units at College Manor are studios though 29 of them are one-bedroom units and five are two-bedroom units. Average monthly rent stands at $850.
The fine print
Maskin Group, an insurance company catering to students, signed a 25,000-square-foot lease at the new 100,000-square-foot Ferry Terminal Building in Camden, and will relocate its headquarters and 150 employees this July from Pennsauken, N.J. Binswanger arranged the lease.
Natalie Kostelni, Reporter
Philadelphia Business Journal
