WILMINGTON — After spending more than $10 million on renovating the PNC Bank Center on the corner of Delaware Avenue and Tatnall Street, Douglas Development Corp. has successfully boosted the occupancy of the18-story building to 90% by signing leases with four law firms.
Jemals 222 Delaware LLC, an affiliate of the Washington D.C. developer first acquired 222 Delaware Ave. in 2019 for an undisclosed price and then spent years renovating the building to draw in more tenants.
As of this week, four law firms ranging from personal injury to boutique firms to cater to business clients had signed leases for a combined 26,898 square feet. That’s more than half the available space listed at 222 Delaware Ave. when it went to the market.
PNC Bank also renewed its lease for 32,530 square feet, taking the 15th and 18th floors — or 13% of the entire leasable space in the building. The financial institution built 222 Delaware Ave. as its main corporate offices in 1987, around the time Delaware first started to establish itself as the financial capital of the Mid-Atlantic.
CBRE Senior Vice President John Kaczowka represented Douglas Development in the negotiations, while Tom Coyne of Fidelity Commercial represented PNC Bank.
New tenants include:
- Boutique corporate law firm Heyman Enerio Gattuso & Hirzel LLP, which leased 13,918 square feet on the ninth floor.
- Top transactions and trial law firm Akerman LLP, which leased 5,271 square feet on the 17th floor.
- Personal injury law firm McCann, Dillon, Jaffe & Lamb, LLC; which leased 4,519 square feet.
- Plaintiffs’ law firm Block & Leviton LLP, which leased 3,190 square feet on the 11th floor.
The four new law firms join Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Eckert Seamans, complex transactions firm Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, intellectual property litigation firm Fish & Richardson, full service firm Polsinelli and premiere life sciences and technology law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
“We are extremely pleased with the ongoing lease-up of our fully renovated PNC Bank Center,” Douglas Development Managing Principal Norman Jemal, said in a prepared statement. “Our investment in building improvements and amenity upgrades is certainly paying dividends and we are optimistic about the Wilmington market. Companies want their people to be happy and thrive in their work environment, so when they are looking at their space needs, they are searching for what best attracts and retains the best talent and that usually means being in a great facility.”
Douglas Development first started focusing on redeveloping properties in the Washington D.C. area, but has added properties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Included in its portfolio of 10 million square feet are offices, mixed-use buildings, retail, residential and hotels. The PNC Bank building is its only property in Delaware, according to its property listings on its website.
Kaczowka told the Delaware Business Times that Douglas invested more than $10 million over the past two years, first starting with adding a conference center and fitness center, followed by common areas. The PNC Bank building also includes a six-story parking garage with six electric vehicle charging stations. The ground floor retail space is leased out to Brew Ha Ha! and Morgan’s Women’s Boutique.
CBRE, which is one of the world’s largest commercial real estate firms with clients in more than 100 countries, advertised 222 Delaware Ave. to clients as well as some networking on social media to draw prospects.
