PHILADELPHIA (October 14, 2020) – Savills announced that it has negotiated on behalf of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health the development of a build-to-suit, Center City high-rise building that represented the largest construction project in the city of Philadelphia for 2020 and the single largest real estate investment by Jefferson in its nearly 200-year history. The transaction allows Jefferson to move forward with plans for a Specialty Care Pavilion in the heart of its current Center City campus.

The build-to-suit project located at 11th and Chestnut streets is now in the early stages of construction and will cost an estimated $762 million. The project’s cornerstone will be the 492,000-square-foot, 19-story Specialty Care Pavilion. Once complete, it will include more than 300 exam rooms, 58 infusion chairs, 10 operating rooms, six endoscopy rooms, imaging and lab services, a pharmacy and three levels of underground parking which Jefferson will own. As part of the transaction, Savills also negotiated the purchase of an adjacent pad site, also above the underground garage, with a development capacity of 188,000 square feet.

“We have worked with Jefferson as its real estate advisor for over 20 years and understood how strategically imperative this particular project was to its long-term plans,” said Hether Smith, a Senior Vice President and Branch Manager at Savills. “Throughout the negotiation process, we remained steadfast in our approach to secure the best possible outcome for the client.”

Ultimately, Savills, working closely with Jefferson’s outside counsel, Saul Ewing, structured a complex transaction which allowed the developer to build the building, realize an appropriate return on their investment and Jefferson to accomplish their goal of owning the property. The final element was the purchase of the remaining pad site with very favorable terms, allowing Jefferson ultimate control of the entire Chestnut Street frontage of the property, which covers an entire city block.

Jefferson was represented in negotiations by Hether Smith, Catherine Pullen and Jay Joyce, all of whom operate out of the firm’s Philadelphia office. Brad Wolk and Nate Brzozowski, of the firm’s Integrated Consulting Strategies Group, provided FASB guidance, financial analysis for the various financial structures and worked closely with the transaction team in developing Board approval documentation.

During the past two years, the Savills’ Smith-Pullen-Joyce recently represented Jefferson in:

• Relocation of Jefferson’s suburban College of Nursing to 300 Lakeside Drive in Horsham, Pennsylvania, a 40,000-square-foot state-of-the-art institutional educational facility that includes classrooms, lab space and conference rooms for a Fall 2020 occupancy
  
  
• The two-phased 363,000 Central Services project in downtown Philadelphia consolidating administration functions within the Enterprise with initial occupancy in 2019 and additional occupancy in 2025
  
  
• A 183,000 SF Master Lease Renewal at 833 Chestnut for various clinical and academic functions tied closely to phasing for the occupancy at 1101 Chestnut and 1101 Market Street
  
  
• A 65,000 SF renovation of a suburban office/laboratory building into Jefferson’s Home Infusion and Specialty Pharmacy laboratory and distribution center in King of Prussia which is due to become operational in early October of 2020