The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that one of the sites at the Navy Yard will be the site of a new Marriott-brand hotel. The development is being sponsored by Liberty Property Trust, an investment trust headquartered in Malvern. Sources said Liberty is nearly finished financing the new hotel.
The new development plan is apparently intended to meet the demands of the Navy Yard campus, which is expected to be dynamic and increasingly mixed-use.
Liberty-one of the largest publicly traded commercial and industrial real estate investment trusts in the nation- has apparently been working with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. since 2002 to redevelop parts of the Navy Yard. The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. is the city’s economic-development branch. Liberty Property Yard already acts as landlord for several businesses at the Navy Yard, including GlaxcoSmithKline, Tastykake and Iroko Pharmaceuticals.
Liberty Property Trust and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. have apparently agreed upon a master redevelopment plan for the Navy Yard back in 2003, and that plan has been guiding development since that time.
In 2006, Urban Outfitters opened its corporate headquarters at the Navy Yard. Earlier this year, GlaxcoSmithKline signed a 15-year lease for a new building that is still under construction. Iroko Pharmaceuticals announced that it would be expanding its office at the Navy Yard in order to increase its workforce.
According to Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, the new plans for the hotel are proof that long-term efforts to draw business to the Navy Yard are paying off.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, “Marriott hotel planned for Navy Yard,” Suzette Parmley, Oct 12, 2011.
