234,800-SF Tenant for Wanamaker Landmark

PHILADELPHIA-Bala Cynwyd, PA-based American Business Financial Services is relocating to four floors of the landmark Wanamaker Building at 1300 Market St. The deal, which will reportedly bring up to 1,000 workers to Center City by next summer and represents the largest single influx of workers Downtown in more than a decade, was sweetened by several entities.

A snowstorm pushed an announcement, scheduled for today, to Monday.

However, Stephen Gleason, executive vice president of Amerimar Enterprises Inc., confirms to GlobeSt.com the contents of the subsidy package.

ABFS will receive $4.6 million in city and state subsidies. City hall has arranged low-cost federal financing to help cover renovation costs for Amerimar, which manages the property and also owns it in partnership with Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc.

The state is providing a $1-million subsidy to the tenant that comes on top of a $600,000 state tax break. The city is advancing a $3 million “forgivable loan,” and Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. has arranged a 15-year, $15-million, federally funded loan for Amerimar at a 4.75% fixed interest rate.

Gleason declined to disclose the terms of the lease. On condition of anonymity, local brokers estimate that ABFS is paying a rental rate of approximately $20 per sf.

The 15-story building of Italian Renaissance design consists of a total of 1.8-million sf. Of that, 1 million is office space; 400,000 sf is retail space leased to Lord & Taylor and a 400,000-sf garage on three underground levels.

The building was completed in 1911 as headquarters for the late local retailer, John Wanamaker Co. With the demise of Wanamaker’s, Lord & Taylor set up shop. The building was redeveloped between 1989 and 1991, and acquired by the Amerimar partnership in 1997. At that time, Amerimar converted floors four and five to office space.

ABFS will move into portions of floors six, seven, eight and 12, which is the top floor.