Horizon Center is the former site of the abandoned Eastern State School and Hospital, now being redeveloped by King of Prussia, PA-based O'Neill, which specializes in the recycling and renovation of surplus brownfield sites. Other tenants in Horizon's office properties are Full Spectrum, NewarkinOne, and Strayer University. Chili's, Pizzeria Uno, and Chick-Fil-A have committed to join the center's roster of eateries.

Meanwhile, Millennium III, another O'Neill development in Conshohocken, PA, inks a lease for 18,000 sf with Fast Track Systems, a data and technology company involved in medial clinical trial processes. It expects to move in this summer. Millennium III is a 24-acre, mixed-us community of retail and multi-family apartments and condos along with office space.

Terms of the office leases in both developments are undisclosed. According to first-quarter data from the Philadelphia office of Grubb & Ellis, the average asking rental rate for class A office space in the Philadelphia suburbs is $27.26 per sf, but, with an overall vacancy rate of 22.7%, discounting is rampant.

O'Neill, however, completed leases for an aggregate of 500,000 sf over the past year, and occupancy in its portfolio now stands above 90%, according to J. Brian O'Neill, CEO. "The Horizon and Millennium projects represent everything we are about," he says. "In both cases, we've taken properties that were abandoned and unutilized and converted them into thriving centers . . . which contribute to the tax base of their communities."