Equus Capital Partners, Ltd., one of the nation’s leading private equity fund managers, announced today the sale of 242 and 248 Chapman Road in Newark, Delaware, a submarket of South New Castle County. The 2-building class-B office portfolio totaling 142,695 square-feet was sold to an affiliate of Rockford Properties for $15.5 million. The properties were a combined 100 percent occupied at the time of sale.
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Mike Margolis, Dave Dolan, and Brett Segal, along with area experts, Neal Dangello and Wills Elliman, represented the seller in the transaction.
242 Chapman Road is a three-story, 65,967 square-foot office building was built in 1989. 248 Chapman Road is a two-story, 76,728 square-foot office building was built in 1987. Both buildings were constructed of steel framing with a brick façade and blue reflective glass windows, creating uniformity among the two buildings as well as a striking visual appearance.
242 and 248 Chapman Road were originally acquired in 2007 on behalf of BPG Investment Partnership VII & VIIA, L.P., a discretionary fund managed by Equus. Since then, both properties have undergone approximately $1.5 million in extensive renovations, including new ceilings and lighting, updated lobbies and restrooms, a new roof, and HVAC system upgrades. New elevators are currently being installed in 242 Chapman Road.
“We demonstrated our re-positioning expertise with our ability to take this 77% occupied project at acquisition with near term lease expirations and retain and expand the tenants to bring it to 100% occupancy, as of closing,” commented Chris Locatell, Senior Vice President at Equus who oversaw the disposition for Equus. “The existing tenants, KBR engineering and HP Enterprises, have been at the property in varying occupancies since 1991 and 2001, respectively. Our ability to maintain the Class-A atmosphere and condition of the properties has allowed us to satisfy KBR and HP changing occupancy needs even through the challenging leasing environment following our acquisition in 2007 and through the 2008-09 recession,” added Locatell.
242 and 248 Chapman Road are located less than one mile from the interchange of Interstate 95 and State Road 273. The properties’ central location places them approximately equidistant from three bordering states as the building are only 15 minutes south of Wilmington, Delaware, 45 minutes south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and 60 minutes north of Baltimore, Maryland. Additionally, 242 and 248 Chapman Road are within one mile of two large shopping centers, University Plaza and Christiana Town Center, and just two miles from the Christiana Mall.
About Equus Capital Partners, Ltd. Equus Capital Partners,, is one of the nation’s leading private equity real estate fund managers. Equus’ portfolio consists of approximately 18 million square-feet of office, retail, and industrial properties and over 11,000 apartment units across 49 multi-family communities located throughout the United States. The firm is headquartered in the Philadelphia area, with a principal office in Yardley, PA, and with offices in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston, Atlanta, and Raleigh-Durham. For additional information, please visit the company’s website at www.equuspartners.com.
