INQUIRER: Patriot Equities LP of Wayne says it has agreed to buy the Inquirer and Daily News headquarters in Center City and will seek to rezone and refurbish part of the underused complex for retail services. Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the building along with the two newspapers, the Philly.com Web site and other publications, will not comment on terms of the sale or plans for the site until a definitive agreement is signed, said Bill Luff, managing director at the Philadelphia office of Jones Lang LaSalle, the real estate firm advising Philadelphia Media Holdings.
Philadelphia Media says it plans to use proceeds to help pay off debt that helped fund its $515 million purchase of the papers and their related Web sites and other publications two years ago. The papers’ continued occupancy of part of the site and the need for rezoning were factors in the negotiations.
“Patriot usually comes in where a company wants to get a property off its books and lease it back,” said Glenn Blumenfeld, partner at Tactix USA, a Radnor firm that represents corporate tenants. “Now the trick is to get value out of the rest of the property.” Kolar said he expects PMH will keep the papers’ news operations in the building. MORE