Malvern-based E. Kahn Development has acquired the former Harleysville Group headquarters in Montgomery County. It bought the site from Broadstone Net Lease for $10.5 million, writes Natalie Kostelni for the Philadelphia Business Journal.
The 241,688-square-foot building was constructed in 1950 and sits on a 48.7-acre plot.
According to property records, Broadstone purchased the property in 2016 for $31.2 million from Nationwide Mutual Insurance.
At the time, Nationwide had a lease on the building for another 12 years.
The company announced in August 2020, however, that it would close most of its smaller offices and transition around 4,000 employees to permanent work-from-home status. Nationwide and Broadstone came to an agreement on buying out the lease, and the building remained vacant.
E. Kahn Development also acquired another building owned by Broadstone and leased to Nationwide, a 165,000-square-foot office in Harrisburg.
The E. Kahn Development plans to market the Harleysville building to office tenants seeking rental rates that are less than those of tonier suburban markets.
The space is currently move-in ready, said Eli Kahn, president of his namesake company. He added that for now, he is not going to explore new uses or development for the nearly 50-acre property.
Read more about E. Kahn Development in the Philadelphia Business Journal.