- Philadelphia Business Journal
- May 4, 2007 by Natalie Kostelni, Staff Writer
West Chester, PA
The Iron Hill Building, which houses the Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant and is credited with kicking off the revitalization of this college town, has traded hands.
The 26,800-square-foot building at 3 W. Gay St. was bought by Pearl Properties, a Philadelphia real estate firm, for $4.6 million, according to Tom Gorman, a broker with Marcus & Millichap who arranged the transaction along with colleagues Matt Gorman and Mark Thomson. The seller was Victor Abdala of West Chester.
The two-story building, which sits at a highly visible and well-traveled corner of High and Gay streets, is split between roughly 15,400 square feet of street-level retail space and about 11,400 square feet of office space. At the time of the sale, it was nearly fully occupied with 1,500 square feet of retail space vacant. It was built in 1928.
For decades, the structure was occupied by Woolworth's store, which was considered a strong downtown anchor for West Chester. In 1994, Woolworth's closed its doors after more than 50 years in business there and eliminated a main draw for West Chester's downtown, contributing to the decay of it as an urban center. In 1995, Abdala and a business partner bought the structure for $675,000 and launched a major renovation costing more than $1 million with hopes of drawing a retailer to the site.
In 1998, Iron Hill moved in, becoming the building's anchor. At the time Iron Hill moved in, three of the four corners at the intersection of High and Gay were vacant.
Many credit Iron Hill with sparking the revitalization of West Chester. Its commitment to the city then encouraged other restaurants and boutique retailers to move in in what some have called the “Iron Hill Effect.” Other towns, such as Media and Phoenixville where Iron Hill has opened are hoping to leverage its presence in the same way West Chester did.