PHILADELPHIA — An affiliate of Post Brothers Apartments has acquired a parking garage in Philadelphia where Spruce Food Market makes its home on the street-level retail space. It traded for roughly $7.2 million.
The 175-vehicle garage at 1524 Latimer St. was sold by CLL Towne Inc. Park America will continue to manage and operate the parking facility. Josh Nadel of MPN Realty arranged the transaction.
The structure runs from Latimer to Spruce streets and includes roughly 3,500 square feet of retail space at 1523-25 Spruce St. That space is leased to Spruce Food Market, which is a well-known institution in the neighborhood.
The store has been there for decades and it, along with its sign, is part of the urban landscape in that part of Center City, Nadel said in an email. Nadel likens the sign to the PSFS sign at what is now the Loews hotel and the Sophie Cursonsign at 19th and Sansom streets, which have become permanent parts of the city’s streetscape.
Post Brothers bought the property to support its residential project at 260 S. Broad St., which is a block-and-a-half away, as well as for general investment purposes, said Matt Pestronk, who runs the Philadelphia real estate company. The structure does have air rights that would allow it to be expanded by about 50,000 square feet but that’s “just an added bonus,” he said and not the long-term play.
Natalie Kostelni, Reporter
Philadelphia Business Journal
