JPMorgan Chase Grabs 58-Acre Suburban Delaware Office Campus

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has just gotten its hands on 357,500 square feet of top-notch office space in Wilmington, Del., with the acquisition of biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca’s 58-acre South Campus.

JLL’s Capital Markets team orchestrated the transaction on behalf of AstraZeneca, which, having announced major layoffs in Wilmington last year, will vacate the two-building complex by year’s end. The city’s office market may not be in a league with that of its closest metropolitan neighbor, Philadelphia, but one wouldn’t necessarily know it, judging by the attention the two-building South Campus property garnered.

“We had a ton of interest from both users and investors/developers,” Doug Rodio, executive vice president with JLL, told Commercial Property Executive. “The potential buyer community was not limited to just the usual suspects that typically invest in Greater Philadelphia; there were several aggressive bids from developers based in Washington, D.C., New York and even California.”

Developed in 2003 as part of AstraZeneca’s 750,000-square-foot complex, the South Campus consists of one four-story building and one three-story building featuring a respective 204,000-square feet and 153,000 square feet of premier office space.  The campus also offers a 2,017-space parking facility and such state-of-the-art amenities as an electric car charging station.

“This location is one of the best, if not the best, locations in all of northern Delaware,” Rodio added. “The existing office product is best-in-class and the future development opportunities are exciting as well.”