PHILADELPHIA, PA — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) released its fourth-quarter 2019 office reports for the Philadelphia CBD and suburbs, Southern New Jersey, and Northern Delaware. Across the region, the office market concluded 2019 with robust positive absorption, continued rent growth, new construction, and the promise of more demand-driven development to kick off the new year.
In Philadelphia’s Central Business District (CBD), market activity was largely driven by the “eds & meds” sector, which contributed significantly to the overall quarterly absorption of 142,976 s/f through notable deals such as Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Limelight Bio, each leasing a full floor at 3535 Market St. in University City. “Eds & meds” is also among the sectors catalyzing new development. Drexel University officially signed for a 258,000 s/f build-to-suit in University City this quarter and exercised the option to expand the building to 454,000 s/f to accommodate multiple College of Medicine programs. This was one of two new build-to-suit deals signed in the fourth quarter downtown; Morgan Lewis & Bockius also signed with Parkway Corporation for a 308,000 s/f build-to-suit at 2222 Market St.