Brandywine: No plan to start Cira 2 towers
Brandywine Realty Trust cut its dividend and said it has no current plans to start work on its proposed Cira 2 office towers next to Penn's West Philadelphia campus. Still looking for tenants.
Brandywine: No plan to start Cira 2 towers
Stung by higher borrowing costs and slower office demand, Brandywine Realty Trust cut its dividend and said it has no plans to start work on its proposed Cira 2 office towers next to Penn's West Philadelphia campus. It's trying to get a tax break to attract financing for its planned Internal Revenue Service office renovation at the former 30th Street post office.
"At the current time we don't have plans to start either one of those towers" proposed for Cira 2, Brandywine Realty Trust's University City expansion project, chief executive Gerard Sweeney told investors in a conference call this morning.
Mayor Nutter and Gov. Rendell has delivered tax breaks for the site in an attempt to lure up to 1,500 jobs from BlackRock Inc. in New Jersey. But BlackRock has a big new co-owner (Bank of America Corp.), its business (investments) is in turmoil, and it hasn't decided when, or if, it will add Philly jobs.
Questioned by analysts, Sweeney said "a couple of larger tenants are looking at a large bloc of space" in the complex, but "in this environment" he's not scheduling work. Brandywine has at least until 2010 to begin hanging iron or face losing the site, he added.
Also, Brandywine is continuing work on a parking garage at the former Post Office Annex across Walnut St. But it's taken its completed, mostly leased Cira 1 tower off the market, ending the search for an investor, until investment conditions improve. Instead it'll try to sell some suburban Philadelphia buildings. And it's still looking for a partner to help redevelop the Post Office for its main proposed tenant, the federal Internal Revenue Service. Sweeney said he hopes to secure a historic-building tax break for a potential investor.
What a big mistake this is. I dont understand if there are tax breaks on the table, which would allow BofA to use the money they would have spent on this to spend on something else really needed with that same capital. Also, I would think having easy access to Amtrak would be ideal and lastly close proximity to existing Black Rock offices in Wilmington, DE. To me, its a no-brainer.— Jes44- BofA has access to plenty of surplus real estate already in Delaware, also close to Amtrak, from its MBNA purchase, if it really wants to move BlackRock people from Jersey. May be cheapest to just leve them in place, with all the uncertainty.— distefj
- distefj, a real estate company, maybe one or two of them bought two former MBNA properties, its original HQ location on Rte 4 and in Greenville which used to house its Insurance business. It would be curious to see a cost benefit analysis with the tax incentives offered by the city if it were attractive enough.— Jes44
- Right. BofA is out of Greenville (the old Columbia Gas bldg) and the original Ogletown campus, but still occupies most of MBNA's 6-block complex in downtown Wilmington and its old DuPont campus north of Newark. They also have the Christiana IT complex, no? I hear they are continuing to reduce jobs, tho it's probably a good time to get hired if you're a debt collector. BofA was also trying to unload the old courthouse in Wilm and the country club near Newark last I heard awhile back.— distefj
- As I pessimistically anticipated, the ugly parking garage gets built on the waterfront and the gleaming towers do not! So typically Philly. In retrospect, the zoning board should have made the permit for the construction on the eyesore parking garage contingent upon the construction of at least one of the two proposed towers.— centercity19146
- Brandywine CEO Sweeney sent a follow-up note. "We are underway on the full renovation of the historic 30th Street Post Office building. That is on target for a 3rd quarter 2010 completion. We have signed a lease and the building will be fully occupied by the IRS who will house over 5000 workers... We are not looking for a tax break. The building, due to its historic nature and the scope of our work, is eligible for a federal historic tax credit... On the other towers we continue an aggressive marketing campaign to land a lead (or several) tenants so we can proceed with construction as soon as practicable." Amen to that. Joe D.— distefj
