Last month, Day & Zimmermann Inc., a Fortune 100 company, announced it was moving its global headquarters - with 325 employees - from 1818 Market St. to 1500 Spring Garden. It will join tenants CBS3, Independence Blue Cross, and North American Publishing Co.
"We did an exhaustive search and looked all over the region," Bill Yoh, one of the owners of Day & Zimmermann, said of his 106-year-old company's year-and-a-half search for a new home.
The $1.9 billion company, which provides products and outsourcing solutions for government and commercial clients, has leased 122,000 square feet on four floors. Office construction begins in August, and employees move in April.
"It offers a good blend of the commercial, academia and residential," Yoh said of the location. "You don't quite get the same vibrancy and diversity on Market Street."
Though he would not discuss the financial details of the lease, Yoh's firm almost certainly saved some money. Space at 1500 Spring Garden generally rents for about $17 per square foot, according to the building's owners, while Center City space is about $22 per square foot.
Commercial real estate brokers say 1500 Spring Garden is benefiting from two factors: scarce office space in Center City and word-of-mouth by existing tenants.
"The Center City office supply is approaching single-digit vacancy, which means there are fewer and fewer large blocks of space there," said Craig Scheuerle, senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis, who represented CBS3 in its lease transaction. CBS3 moved into 1500 Spring Garden in late March from 101 S. Independence Mall.
Gerald M. Marshall, president of Amerimar Enterprises Inc., which owns the building, said 1500 Spring Garden's recent successes took years of hard work and perseverance.He purchased the building, once the headquarters and manufacturing center of what is now part of GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C., in May 2000.
