Honestly, what is up with the Historic Landmark that is the Philadelphia Inquirer Building?
Read what Inga Saffron has to say on February 25th
Patriot Equities may not have fully sewn up the deal to buy the Inquirer Building, as Publisher Brian Tierney says in today's Daily News, but I'd wager a year's subscription to the Inquirer (what can I say, I'm partisan) that the building's two newsrooms aren't going to be packing up and leaving anytime soon. Philadelphia Media Holdings, which bought the Inquirer and Daily News in 2006, put the landmark white tower on the block last August. While no official price was disclosed, developers said the original number was upwards of $60 million.
It's not clear how much Patriot, a Wayne company that was assembled by alumni from Mike O'Neill's Preferred Real Estate, is offering now, but many suspect the sale price will be much less. The big question now is what will Patriot do for PMH. We know that Patriot specializes in lease-back deals. For all Tierney's broad hints about being courted by New Jersey Gov. Corzine for a a high-profile spot on the Camden waterfront, one suspects the talks are nothing more than a strategic flirtation. Why else would architects from H2L2 be prowling the newsroom here all last week, with clipboards and blueprints in hand? They're getting ready to renovate.
Now see this thing from the Daily News:
A Delaware County real-estate investment and development firm has emerged as the leading suitor for the venerable Daily News and Inquirer building, at Broad and Callowhill streets.
Two officers of Patriot Equities LP, of Wayne, said yesterday that a deal had been reached, under which both newspapers would remain in the building and share it with other tenants.
But Philadelphia Media Holdings chief executive Brian Tierney cautioned that negotiations were just beginning.
"We're negotiating, but until a deal's a deal, it's not a deal," Tierney said. "We're not negotiating with anyone else, and we're not soliciting any other offers, but there's no definitive agreement."
Patriot Equities, which specializes in underutilized corporate real estate, was among 300 developers nationwide that had expressed interest after the building was put on the market last year, Tierney said.
And we'll throw this out there: what's up with what we saw on the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia website?
