[domodeez]

Speculation from Philadelphia Business Journal's Natalie Kostelni that Aramark could become the primary commercial tenant in 2400 Market.

http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelp...-of-phila.html

Aramark Corp., one of Philadelphia’s leading corporate citizens, is evaluating whether it should relocate its headquarters outside of Philadelphia.

The company occupies around 350,000 square feet at a building that bears its name at 1101 Market St. in Philadelphia. The multinational food services firm also has about 50,000 square feet in the Wanamaker building.

“The lease on Aramark’s world headquarters expires in 2018 and we have been carefully reviewing our options to ensure a solid plan is ready in advance,” said Chris Collom, a spokesman for the company, in a statement. “As a public company, we have a responsibility to our shareholders to completely assess all available choices. That includes remaining in Philadelphia or possibly relocating. We have been working closely with city and state officials in a number of locations and will make our final decision soon.”

Aramark Tower is a 32-story, 620,000-square-foot office building that has served as the company’s headquarters for the last three decades. The Aramark building was built in 1984. It was initially named One Reading Center before Aramark, then called ARA Services, moved its headquarters and more than 1,000 of its employees from the old Curtis Publishing Co. building at 6th and Walnut streets in 1985.

When Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) announced its move to the tower, Joseph Neubauer, then chairman and CEO, praised it as an ideal location that offered direct access to the commuter train lines. The building’s construction contributed to the revitalization of Market Street East.

The company, which provides food, facilities and uniform services to education, healthcare, business, sports and corrections clients, has reportedly done a national search as part of its evaluation process. Of the options it is considering locally include staying in Center City, moving to the Navy Yard or to Camden, N.J., according to people familiar with the situation. While the current building could accommodate that amount of space, there is no other office tower in Philadelphia with that much space available. Eventually, though, 2400 Market St. could have enough room.

A new building would have to be constructed at the Navy Yard or Camden. What, if any options, Aramark is considering outside of the Philadelphia area couldn’t be determined and the spokesman declined to take additional questions....

Wonder if she meant 2100 Market that Brandywine is working on? 2400 Market is supposed to have about 200,000 SF of commercial, well short of the 400,000 SF Aramark currently occupies. But even 2100 Market is slated at this point for 250,000 SF of "creative office" space, which again seems like a poor match. If Aramark were to stay in Greater Center City, I would actually suspect a dedicated tower in the University City KOZ, which gives them some of the tax benefits they're looking for and allows them to retain near-perfect transit access. For transportation alone, it seems like the Navy Yard or Camden would be huge downgrades.