{"id":21363,"date":"2019-02-22T15:04:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T13:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/?p=21363"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:19:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T12:19:30","slug":"top-10-office-sales-philadelphia-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/top-10-office-sales-philadelphia-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 10 Office Sales of 2018 in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, news broke that the iconic Philadelphia office tower known as BNY Mellon Center<\/a> was to sell for a record $452 million. A joint venture between New York-based Silverstein Properties and the Arden Group is set to pay roughly $350 per square foot for the 54-story tower at 1735 Market St., the highest price per square foot ever for an office building transaction in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

However, this record-setting sale isn’t all good news for the local market, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal<\/a><\/em>. When you compare the sale price of the BNY Mellon Center to the construction costs of a trophy office tower, it is clear why developers aren’t investing in new office construction in the heart of Philly<\/a>–except for Comcast<\/a>, of course. It costs around $600 to $650 per square foot to build a trophy office asset, according to the newspaper, which means the BNY Mellon is changing hands at roughly 54% of replacement cost.<\/p>\n

In light of this record-breaking office sale and all the talk around it, we thought we’d look back at the top 10 office sales of 2018 in Philadelphia<\/a>, to get a better picture of the city’s office sales market. It’s easy to see why the BNY Mellon sale garnered so much attention: the largest office sale of last year fetched just $160 million, and only 4 out of the 10 biggest sales topped the $100 million mark.<\/p>\n

There are a few names that stand out from the crowd in our top 10. American Real Estate Partners closed the first and the third-largest office deals of the year, paying a combined total of $268 million for the PNC Bank Building and Eight Tower Bridge properties. Equus Capital Partners also makes the list twice, having paid a combined $147 million for the Five Tower Bridge and 1400 Atwater Drive assets. Meanwhile, Liberty Property Trust made our list three times–as a seller. The company sold three of its Philly office assets\u00a0for a total of $277 million, a move in line with its plan<\/a> to move away from operating office properties and invest instead in expanding its industrial portfolio.<\/p>\n

Check out the full top 10 below and read on for details on each of the sales on the list:<\/p>\n

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