Philadelphia developer buys Fishtown office building near Delaware River for $12M

A 112-year-old building in Fishtown sold for $12 million to a Philadelphia developer.

By: Paul Schwedelson

A Philadelphia real estate firm with a history of multifamily redevelopment projects has bought an office building along the Delaware River in Fishtown.

GoldOller Real Estate Investments paid $12 million for the Penn Treaty Park Place building at 1334-76 Beach St., according to property records. Tenants in the building include WURD radio station, Law Enforcement and Security Officers Training Academy and Prodigy Staffing Solutions.

The building, which sits off Delaware Avenue just north of Penn Treaty Park, was built in 1911 and sold to Ingvar Tornberg in 1989 for $1.6 million, records show. Tornberg, who co-founded a company that created machinery for the plastics industry, rehabbed the building and created offices. This year, the building was assessed at $19.6 million.

The Penn Treaty Park Place building is next to The Battery, a former PECO power plant being redeveloped by Lubert-Adler into apartments, office space, short-term apartment rentals and event space.

The area in and around Fishtown continues to be a hotbed for multifamily residential development. There were 1,043 new housing units built last year in the 19125 and 19122 ZIP codes, which encompass Fishtown and parts of Northern Liberties, Olde Kensington and Olde Richmond, according to the Center City District. At the end of 2022, there were 4,670 units in progress in the two ZIP codes, accounting for 18% of new housing in progress citywide.

The Penn Treaty Park Place site is zoned for industrial commercial mixed use, which doesn’t allow for multifamily residential. In February, a zoning permit was issued for a change of use for retail sales of consumer goods, a self-storage warehouse and professional office to be allowed in an existing building.

GoldOller did not respond to a request for comment.

GoldOller previously redeveloped the Avenue at East Falls apartment complex in Northwest Philadelphia. The company bought that site for $56 million in 2016 and spent $20 million renovating the apartments and adding amenities like a fitness center, outdoor pool and lounge areas. GoldOllder then sold the 512-unit apartment complex for $96.3 million in 2021 when it was 93% occupied.

GoldOller has developed apartment properties throughout the Midwest and East Coast.