One City Place was constructed in 1923. It is located on the northwest corner of Broad and Arch streets, adjacent to City Hall and directly across from the main entrance of the planned expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. According to published reports, B&A acquired the building for $7 million in 1999 and undertook a number of renovations.

The office is 100% leased to two tenants, the First Judicial District of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development. There are also some ground-floor retail tenants. "We like government-rented buildings," says Hans Jurg Stucki, managing director of AFFIA and chairman of its New York City-based American subsidiary, AFIAA US Real Estate Inc. "These are long-term tenants," he tells GlobeSt.com and says the rent rate is about $15 per sf to $16 per sf.

This marks AFIAA's second direct investment in US real estate. Paul Williamson and Paul Chester of New York City-based PG Williamson Group also represented the company in its July, $42-million acquisition of a 220,000-sf building at 156 William St. in Lower Manhattan. Other AFIAA wholly owned assets are in Paris, Munich, Dusseldorf, Germany and Calgary.

"We're looking for 10 others in the US at prices of between $20 million and $100 million each," Stucki says, adding, "We like older, landmark trophy buildings. We're also architects; we know how to handle older buildings, and they have a higher return." He says minor cosmetic upgrades are planned for One City Place. "We want to buy other buildings in Philadelphia, and we're also looking at Indianapolis, Denver, Seattle, San Diego and Washington DC." In all, he says AFIAA plans "a global portfolio, allocated 50% in North America, 40% in Europe, and 10% in Asia."

In English, AFIAA stands for Foundation for International Real Estate Investments. It was established in 2004 to make direct investments in real estate assets on behalf of tax-exempt Swiss pension organizations. In addition to wholly owned assets, the company holds partnership interests in a diversified portfolio of real estate valued at nearly $1 billion. That includes interests in real estate investment funds that own commercial properties in Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC and multifamily properties in eight states.