Penn buys 23-acre DuPont site on Schuylkill: Update

The University of Pennsylvania has bought DuPont Co.'s former Philadelphia Works, the Marshall Laboratory paint factory and office center across the Schuylkill off the University Ave. bridge from Penn's campus, confirms Penn spokeswoman Julie McWilliams.

As I noted a year ago (and named Penn as a logical buyer), DuPont was asking $19 million last fall for the site after displacing 200+ workers in the closure of the 145-year-old paint plant, which the Wilmington-based chemical giant has owned since World War I. More soon.

UPDATE: Daily Pennsylvanian says: "Though the University is still negotiating with DuPont, Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli said Penn is 'on the fast track to get it closed' for $13 million. When purchased, the plot will serve the University's ancillary needs such as storage, parking and Penn transit." Or a great new lab site for Penn Medicine or Engineering, once the big bucks are raised. 

ALSO: Penn says its $5.7 billion main endowment fund grew 12% in the fiscal year ended June 30, beating its 9% benchmark, thanks to the stock market's late 2009 recovery and strong performance by Penn's financially-oriented hedge funds, chief investment officer Kristin Gilbertson told me. (By comparison, Pennsylvania's biggest investment fund, the $46 billion Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, claimed a 14.6% gain in the same period.) Up next: "We are looking at real estate" and distressed property sales, by hiring new investment managers, she told me. "We haven't seen the main act yet" in real estate recovery.