Real Estate

Stradley Ronon represented the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) with a redevelopment project in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. A 250-bed retreat house with 4.5 acres of beachfront views owned by IHM was demolished, and a new retreat house was constructed on a smaller lot allowing for the creation of 13 beach-block residential lots and a new street within the boundary of the original property. The sale of the high-profile lots provided funding for demolishing the existing building, creating a new retreat house and establishing an endowment to support the future needs of the congregation.

The Stradley Ronon team navigated the complex town zoning board requirements, received CAFRA permitting from the state Department of Environmental Protection, negotiated with the contractor, potential developers and residential lot buyers and resolved a dispute with the Borough of Stone Harbor regarding the developability of land adjacent to dunes.

Stradley Ronon represented Gattuso Development Partners and its partners with a $290 million construction loan for an 11-story mixed-use development in University City. 45% of the development has been pre-leased to SmartLabs and Drexel University. Once completed, the project is expected to be Philadelphia’s largest life sciences project featuring 520,000 SF of lab and 12,000 SF of retail space.

Philadelphia Business Journal named this project the “2022 Deal of the Year.” Read the article here (with subscription) and learn about Stradley Ronon’s involvement with this marquee project. 

Stradley Ronon assisted Berger Rental Communities and its affiliate Berger Investments with the acquisition of three apartment communities in Pennsylvania. Berger Rental Communities is a full-service company that owns and manages apartment communities in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

Stradley Ronon represented Gencore Investments, LLC (DBA Berger Rental Communities) in acquiring and financing four apartment communities owned by seven different entities comprising a total of 1,438 apartment units in the Pittsburgh, PA suburbs. With this acquisition, Berger Rental Communities has grown to 40 apartment communities with approximately 9,000 apartment units across Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.

In 2016, the School District of Philadelphia challenged the 2017 tax assessments for approximately 140 high-value, commercial properties including three parcels owned by our client, Two Liberty Place. These appeals were limited to commercial properties and ignored other under-assessed subcategories such as residential and industrial. Relying on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s holding in the July 2017 Valley Forge Towers case, Judge Idee Fox of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas dismissed the appeals, ruling that limiting appeals to commercial properties violated the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution. 

Stradley Ronon represented Radnor Property Group, a leading real estate development company specializing in mixed-use commercial, multi-family and student housing, in the $118 million sale of luxury apartment tower 3737 Chestnut in University City to Korman Residential Properties and The Carlyle Group, resulting in an impressive return on its original $92 million investment. Stradley Ronon attorneys advised Radnor in connection with negotiating the sale agreement with the purchasers, satisfying due diligence and ultimately, closing on the disposition. Radnor Property Group currently is developing two other projects: Vue32, also in University City, and The Hamilton, a multi-phase residential project in Logan Square.

Stradley Ronon represented AIM Academy, a private school with approximately 315 students from grades 1-12 with language-based learning differences, in the purchase of its 4.5-acre campus from an affiliate of the Buccini-Pollin Group. The firm also represented AIM Academy in its initial interim financing with Bryn Mawr Trust Company and its subsequent tax-exempt refinancings through the East Norriton Industrial Development Authority and the West Norriton Industrial Authority.

AIM Academy, located in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, uses research-based intervention strategies and an arts-based learning environment to provide extraordinary educational opportunities to children with language-based learning differences including dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. https://www.aimpa.org/

Stradley Ronon represented Metro Corp., publisher of Philadelphia Magazine and Boston Magazine, in a 12-year lease deal for a 15,786-square-foot space that will be home to its Philadelphia offices at The Curtis, located at 601 Walnut Street in Old City. The Curtis is a historic building that once housed Curtis publishing, producer of The Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies Home Journal. Metro Corp, will be moving from its current location at 1818 Market Street in August.

“As Philadelphia Magazine continues its evolution into an omni-channel media company, we view this move to the Curtis and Washington Square as critical to our reinvention,” said David Lipson, chairman and CEO of Metrocorp, in a statement to the Philadelphia Business Journal. “We’re a hundred-year-old company, but we aspire to have the culture of a start-up that is nimble enough to adapt to an ever-changing world. As we change the way we work, it made sense to take the company to a building and space that fits our vision for the future. At the Curtis, we found the best of both worlds – a venue with a historic connection to publishing, where our staff can be surrounded by other innovative companies as we build a business built to thrive in the 21st century.”

Stradley Ronon’s trial team won a nonsuit for client Phoenix French Creek Manor in litigation involving the termination of purchase and option agreements for commercial real estate in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The plaintiff initially filed a $26 million claim against PFCM; however, prior to trial, Stradley’s litigation team secured a partial summary judgment dismissing the claims related to the option agreement, significantly reducing the amount in controversy. Two claims related to the purchase agreement proceeded to trial. Following the testimony of the plaintiff’s first witness, the Stradley team moved for dismissal based on the witnesses’ judicial admissions, but Judge William Mahon reserved his decision until after the close of plaintiff’s case- in-chief. After four days of testimony from six witnesses, the judge granted a nonsuit and brought the matter to a successful end for PFCM. 

Stradley Ronon obtained a mandatory injunction from the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas that requires a reassessment of all property in Delaware County. The Stradley Litigation team represented two families who had purchased new homes in the county in 2013 that were assessed at an extraordinarily high percentage of their fair market values. In consolidated appeals from the Delaware County Board of Assessment Appeals, the Stradley team won not only a significantly reduced assessment for the families, but also a decision acknowledging the pervasive inequities in the taxation of properties due to the county’s failure to reassess properties since 1998. Expert testimony established that properties throughout the county have been assessed at markedly different percentages of their fair market value since 2004. The court determined that the necessary remedy was a countywide reassessment of all properties. The court directed the county to submit a plan and preliminary timetable to accomplish the reassessment by July 1, 2017, and ordered that the Pennsylvania Tax Equalization (formerly STEB) ratio be applied to all tax assessment appeals until the countywide reassessment is completed.

Stradley Ronon’s corporate team assisted a group of former Valley Green Bank executives, led by former CEO Jay Goldstein, in the formation of Spring Garden Lending Group. The company specializes in short-term loans to help acquire, rehabilitate, construct and refinance investment real estate properties in Greater Philadelphia.

Stradley represented affiliates of Radnor Property Group in connection with the development of a parcel at Drexel University. The project is comprised of a 16-story mixed-use tower including a 180-person early learning childcare center and 164 market rate apartments. Our team represented the client in all phases of this transaction, including a long-term ground lease with Drexel University, a sublease with a child care operator, and debt and equity structuring and negotiation.

Stradley also represented Radnor recently in its financing of a 308,000 square-foot mixed-use development in the University City section of Philadelphia. The project, valued at more than $100 million, includes a 25-story residential tower, ground-floor retail space, office building, day care and gathering space for the Episcopal Cathedral.

Stradley represented P.L. Partners in connection with the $38 million sale of a 640,000-square-foot manufacturing facility located on a 45-acre parcel in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania to First Quality Retail Services. First Quality is an established manufacturer of absorbent technology products, paper products, & bottled water for the retail consumer market based in Great Neck, New York.

Stradley Ronon represented ISWG LP in its multimillion-dollar acquisition of a 45-acre industrial site on the Delaware River just north of the Commodore Barry Bridge. The client is under common ownership with the operating entity, which operates an extensive warehousing and shipping company at the property. The transaction involved traditional financing through a commercial loan along with SBA financing.

Berger Rental Communities, a family-owned apartment and housing rental company, recently acquired Silver Spring Apartments, an 80-unit apartment complex in Wilmington, Delaware. Stradley Ronon advised Berger in the acquisition, and also in connection with financing the acquisition and renovation of the property.