Partners Begin Second of Three Conversions to Multifamily

The partners are locally based EB Realty Management Corp., Oaks-based Acorn Development, and Bresler & Reiner of North Bethesda, MD. The properties, each rich in history, are the former Theobold & Oppenheimer Co. Cigar Factory at 1147 North 4th St. in the Northern Liberties neighborhood; the 360,000-sf Mulford industrial building at 640 North Broad St., and the Divine Lorraine Hotel at 699 North Broad.

Once home to the nation's largest producer of hand-rolled cigars, the 32-unit Cigar Factory Condominiums contains units ranging from 1,431 sf to 2,470 sf. Sales start at $339,000. A spokesman for the owners, tells GlobeSt.com the conversion cost, including acquisition, was approximately $7 million.

The condos feature factory-size windows, 12- to 21-foot ceilings and exposed wood beams, combined with contemporary, loft-style design. EB's president Eric Blumenfield calls Northern Liberties, a fast-growing neighborhood of artists, musicians and young professionals, "Philadelphia's answer to Soho."

Both the Mulford Building and the hotel are in the Fairmount neighborhood, also growing. According to published reports, the current owners paid $9.5 million for the vacant, nine-story Mulford property, once a storage house for Polio vaccine and later transformed into a factory for designers Albert and Pearl Nippon. Bresler says the cost of conversion, including the acquisition cost, is $40 million.

Units will range from 900-sf studios to two-bedroom, 2,600-sf lofts. It is currently planned as a rental property, and Bresler says rents would begin at $1,200 a month. "It could go condo," he adds. Completion is scheduled for fall 2005.

The partnership acquired the 10-story, 124,050-sf Divine Lorraine approximately a year ago from New York-based Goldman Properties, which acquired it for about $2 million in 2000. In the late 1930s, Father Divine, a charismatic religious leader and self-proclaimed deity, owned the 264-room hotel. The building has an official historical marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Although it has been vacant for four years, it periodically plays a role as backdrop on the silver screen, most recently in "Shadow Boxer," featuring Cuba Gooding Jr. The new owners' plans for the Divine Lorraine are not fully developed, but an initial plan calls for 135 residential units.

EB is well known for conversions here. On its roster are the Abbots Square mixed-use development at 2nd and South St., which includes 162 residential units along with 60,000 sf of retail; the 301-unit Executive House Apartments at 6100 City Line Ave., and the 301-unit Marine Club Apartments at Broad Street and Washington Avenue