BENSALEM,PA-O'Neill Properties Group has broken ground for the first of sixclass A office buildings at Horizon Corporate Center. This secondphase of development on the 101-acre former Eastern State Schooland Hospital site will contain 1.2 million sf, all built to LEEDspecifications.

That will make Horizon II the largest green development site insuburban Philadelphia, according to Brian O'Neill, founder andchairman of the King of Prussia-based company. The totalconstruction cost is estimated at $250 million, Richard Heany, EVPof acquisitions and divestitures for O'Neill, tells GlobeSt.com,and he expects it to be fully built out by late 2012.

It begins with a 200,000-sf building, which is expected to reachcompletion within 12 months. Its projected construction cost is $50million, Heany says. The developer is in “active negotiations for75% of the space,” he says, “but we can't yet divulge tenantnames.” Leasing is handled in house, and the asking rent rate is$28.50 per sf. “Other new construction in this area is asking northof $30 per sf,” he says. “Because we construct and manage ourproperties, we can cut out layers and require lower rates.”