Dive Temporary:
- The College of the Arts has a $6.5 million bid from Philadelphia actual property investor Allan Domb for one of many establishment’s most beneficial properties, the Arts Alliance, in accordance with courtroom papers filed Wednesday.
- The trustee managing UArts’ belongings in chapter left open a window for competing bids and will maintain an public sale for the property.
- The trustee, Alfred Giuliano, additionally secured the sale of a efficiency corridor owned by UArts generally known as the Arts Financial institution for just below $1.8 million to Lantern Theater Firm, a Pennsylvania nonprofit. A listening to is ready for Jan. 15 to approve the sale.
Dive Perception:
UArts’ sudden closure in June shocked town and sparked protests, authorities probes and authorized actions. In September, the college filed for Chapter 7 chapter to handle its wind-down and the liquidation of its belongings. That got here after a potential cope with close by Temple College fell by means of in August.
Most precious among the many shuttered personal college’s belongings is its actual property portfolio, which incorporates iconic buildings within the coronary heart of the Philadelphia’s arts district.
The Arts Alliance constructing wasn’t initially one among them, because the college acquired the constructing after a 2018 merger. It stands aside half a mile away from the shuttered college’s predominant campus within the tony Rittenhouse Sq. space. When it filed for chapter, UArts listed the constructing’s worth at $11.1 million.
In a Thursday courtroom submitting, Giuliano stated that business actual property agency JLL has been “aggressively advertising and marketing” UArts’ properties since November. That features sending out 27,000 emails to potential patrons, signing greater than 150 confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements with prospects, and giving greater than 40 excursions of UArts properties.
patrons had till Dec. 17 to submit formal presents. Domb’s bid for the Arts Alliance constructing was the “highest and greatest supply obtained,” Giuliano stated, although the trustee reserved the proper to hunt competing bids, which might must be filed two days forward of a sale listening to.
Guiliano reserved the proper to pursue increased bids within the case of the college’s Arts Financial institution constructing on Broad Avenue, with any competing bids due by Jan. 13.
UArts has a number of different buildings in its portfolio left to be bought, together with the columned Dorrance Corridor and different services on its predominant campus on South Broad Avenue. The college listed the worth of all its property at $87.1 million when it filed for chapter.
Giuliano stated in a December submitting that he hopes to finalize the sale of all UArts properties by Might 31.