Opus East Plans Mixed-Use Project on Market St.

PHILADELPHIA-Opus East has acquired the vacant 33,746-sf, or approximately three quarters of an acre lot, at 1919 Market St. for a planned mixed-use development. On condition of anonymity, an area broker tells GlobeSt.com the price was approximately $9 million, "which would translate to about $12 million an acre," he says.

Craig Guers, VP and general manager of the mid-Atlantic office of Minnesota-based Opus Group in Plymouth Meeting, would neither confirm nor deny that price for the parcel. Regarding plans for the property, Guers tells GlobeSt.com, "It will be mixed-use, and we're looking at all uses except office. I think Downtown Philadelphia has enough office space right now."

Preliminary designs include ground-level retail, a parking deck and residential units on the upper floors. "I don't have financing or pro forma completed," Guers says. "Within two to three weeks we expect to complete our market study and determine the number of units and other details with plans to break ground in fourth quarter this year. The completed design will work harmoniously with the existing buildings. We do not expect to tower over adjacent properties and the proposed designs will allow for light and views from all sides."

Wayne Fisher, SVP and director, and Carl Neilson, VP of the local office of Grubb & Ellis, were sole brokers of the sale. Neilson also declined to disclose the sale price. The seller, identified as 1919 Trust, is an affiliate of a Tokyo bank, Neilson says, which acquired it through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure in 1996. The site was originally planned to contain a twin building to the Independence Blue Cross Tower at 1901 Market. Following its acquisition of the land, the bank was unable to dispose of it because of more than 22 lawsuits that ensued between prior partners.

Neilson says the property is in a C-5 zone, which allows the most intensive development in Center City. "The Opus mixed-use plan is an excellent solution for the site," Neilson says.