Scannapieco: $40M in pre-sold condos at 500 Walnut

Tom Scannapieco (Scannapieco Development Corp.) says he has settled his planned $8.5 million purchase from an affiliate of parking mogul Joseph Zuritsky's Parkway Corp. of the ground at 500 Walnut St. in Philadelphia's historic district, and has so far booked sales for 11 units worth "almost $40 million" in his proposed $140 million, 26-story "ultra-luxury high rise" tower.

Pre-sales "are going at a much faster pace" than for his 1706 Rittenhouse Sq. back in 2005-06, Scannapieco told me. And this is "a very similar building with a very similar buyer" and a slightly higher per-square-foot cost, he added. Back in March, my colleague Al Heavens wrote about the plan and the ground's tortured financial and development history here. Scannapieco plans to break ground next year, building to open in 2017.

Separately, I hear giant insurer Ace Ltd., which includes the former Philadelphia-based Insurance Co. of North America, is expanding so quickly that other tenants at the former Penn Mutual complex that houses Ace's largest office center, in the 400 block of Walnut, are starting to plan alternate locations.