Historic Rohm and Haas Building Heads to Dec. 1 Auction

PHILADELPHIA — One of Independence Mall’s most recognizable neighbors is going to the highest bidder. The historic Rohm and Haas Building at 100 S. Independence Mall West will be auctioned Dec. 1 as a lender moves to enforce its rights over debt tied to the property, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported.

The numbers suggest the nine-story, 355,000-square-foot building has lost value. Brokerage firm Newmark has listed it at $30 million, about $10.5 million less than the $40.5 million Keystone Property Group and its partners paid in 2013. The auction, not the listing, will decide what the landmark actually fetches.

What makes the sale striking is that the building is 91.7 percent leased. Its tenants include The Philadelphia Inquirer, Independence Beer Garden and La Colombe. The trouble is in the financing, not the occupancy.

The sale will allow a lender affiliated with Torchlight Investors to enforce its rights over mezzanine debt on the property. Mezzanine debt sits behind the primary mortgage in the capital stack, and lenders holding it can force a sale when borrowers fall behind.

Completed in 1965 and designed by modernist architect Pietro Belluschi, the building was the longtime headquarters of Philadelphia chemical giant Rohm and Haas, which Dow Chemical acquired in 2009. Its bronze-tinted Plexiglas sunshades, made from the company’s signature product, helped earn it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

The auction lands amid widening distress in Philadelphia’s office market. Centre Square, One South Broad and several Market Street towers are also working through foreclosure proceedings or receivership, a sign that even well-occupied, high-profile addresses are not immune to the pressures reshaping the sector.