Rockefeller Group readies Philadelphia industrial debut

Joint venture with PCCP purchased 50-acre site from city’s public-private organization

Rockefeller, PCCP Building Philadelphia Industrial Campus

Rockefeller Group CEO Daniel Moore and 1500 Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Getty, Rockefeller Group, Google Maps)

Two developers are teaming up on a big industrial project in Philadelphia’s burgeoning industrial sector.

Rockefeller Group and PCCP are developing the Rockefeller Group Logistics Center at Roosevelt Boulevard, Commercial Property Executive reported. The two-building, 657,000-square-foot project is sited at 1500 Roosevelt Boulevard, where the Byberry State Hospital once stood.

The developers purchased the 50-acre site from the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. — a city public-private economic development organization — for an undisclosed price. The partners tapped CBRE to find tenants for the project; a CBRE team including Mike Hines and Brad Ruppel also advised Rockefeller and PCCP on the acquisition.

The buildings will be 338,000 square feet and 319,000 square feet, respectively. They will be located only five miles from Northeast Philadelphia Airport — the fourth busiest airport in the state — and 21 miles from downtown Philadelphia.

Rockefeller recently paid $8.7 million for two sites totaling 16.5 acres in South Phoenix. The developer is planning 152 build-to-rent townhomes in the area.

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The firm has experience in the industrial sector in other markets. Two years ago, Rockefeller sold a 334,000-square-foot warehouse it developed in the Inland Empire to a venture composed of Blumenfeld Development Group, CH Realty Partners and Declaration Partners for $57.5 million.

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The company landed its first industrial project in the city after noting a growing demand for Class A industrial space in the Philadelphia market, Rockefeller executive Heath Abramsohn in a statement.

The city has the largest industrial project pipeline of any city in the Northeast, according to CommercialEdge. As of October, 11 million square feet of space in the sector was under development.

Other significant industrial projects in Philadelphia include Hilco Redevelopment Partners’ $4 billion, 14 million-square-foot campus in South Philadelphia. The firm is redeveloping a 1,300-acre plot in the Bellwether District, making room for industrial, logistics and life sciences space. Hilco broke ground in October.

Holden Walter-Warner