Philadelphia-area office properties taken off the market - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The Colonial Penn building on East Market Street in Philadelphiaq was put up for sale in March just to be takemn off in May whenofferas didn’t meet the seller’s expectations. It’s not the only one. Among the othedr office properties that have met a simila fate are1700 Market, Evesham Corporate Center, Curtis Public Ledger Building, and a smattering of offices and industrial properties between South Jerse y and King of Prussia as well as a luxury apartment complex in University Transactions were expected to be off, but the deptbh of the lackluster sales has surpriseed the real estate community.
For the firstf quarter of this year, the Philadelphia metropolitanm area rangup $30 million in commercial propertuy sales, according to LoopNe data. A year ago, it tallied $265 milliojn in sales, which was still off. Three propertie have sold so far this year as compare to 25 during the same periodlast year, according to . “There have been a number of offerings that have come to the market and beentaken off,” said Jerrg Kranzel, an investment broker with . “It’a purely because we’re in a very challenging capita l market environmentright now.
The lending environment is the worst that it has been in 20 Commercial mortgagebacked securities oncepumped $250 billionb of money for real estate acquisitions. “That is essentiallh gone,” Kranzel said, and banks and other financialinstitutions haven’f compensated for the lack of commercial backed funds. “A lot of things would have to happen in the second half of the year to make up for thefirs half,” said Doug Joseph, an investment brokerf at . It’s not just Philadelphia. Nationally sale s are off, too.
Compare d with last year, the volume of officer sales in the central business districts acrosa thecountry nose-dived 80 percent and dropped by 78 perceng in the suburbs, according to data from Real Capital Analytics. Asidre from financing, another hurdle is “There’s a gap between seller’s and buyer’s expectationh on values,” said Joseph, who has some officr buildings up for saleand isn’t certain whether they will be takebn off of the market. Other buildings, in which owners haven’f decided to pull off the market, just sit and sit.
When Sid Smitgh of GVA Smith Mack put on the marketta 21,000-square-foot Big Brothers/Big Sisters buildingb on 13th Street in Philadelphia a year ago, therew were about 20 competingh properties also up for “Now I would have to add to that list,” Smitbh said, adding the first 20 continue to languisb on the market. As for the Big Brothers/Bib Sisters building, Smith said he is closd to signing an agreementof sale.
Some landlordsw are still hoping to strike a deal in spite of difficult as in the case of Eight Tower Bridgein Conshohocken, whicb was put up for sale last October, and the formee location of the on North 21st Street in Philadelphiaa that has been on the markeg since last June and stil l hasn’t snagged a buyer.