Kushner Companies has sold their only Philadelphia asset—a stake in the Piazza apartment and retail complex—to Philly-based group, The Post Brothers.
The group paid $44.1 million for the stake in the property—also known as Schmidt’s Commons—which sits between North Second Street and Germantown Avenue, PhillyVoice reported last week.
Kushner Companies, a real estate group once headed up by the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has owned the property since 2013, when they partnered with Oaktree Capital Management and bought the space from developer Bart Blatstein. The group then tried to rebrand The Piazza—which previously had a hard time keeping tenants—as The Schmidt’s Commons. Retailers and restauranteurs came in—though some left shortly thereafter—and a “WeWork” coworking space set up offices there in 2016.
This sale marks the end of Kushner Companies’ presence in Philly. It was the only asset they owned in the city, Bloomberg reported.
Today The Piazza is home to Urban Village Brewing Company, Gunner’s Run and a Wahlburgers, among other restaurants and retailers. In February, Blatstein proposed a six-building complex on The Piazza, which he said could hold 1,200 apartments and 45,000 square feet of retail. The proposal for the Piazza Terminal, as Blatstein calls it, is going in front of the Civic Design Review next week.
As for the future of the existing apartments that circle the square, The Post Brothers property group says it aims to vamp up the apartments on the Piazza and attract clients a little bit older than the college-aged residents who once lived at the site, Bloomberg reports.
- Kushner Companies sells stake in Schmidt’s Commons to Post Brothers [PhillyVoice]
- Jared Kushner steps down as CEO of Kushner Companies [Curbed Philly]
- Introducing the Schmidt’s Commons, Formerly Known As the Piazza [Curbed Philly]
- Kushner Cos. Sells Stake in Hard-Partying Apartment Complex [Bloomberg]
- Development would put 1,200 apartments on former Schmidt brewery site [Curbed Philly]