A sprawling office campus built inside a century-old tire factory in Conshohocken is officially on the block. Alliance HP is seeking a buyer or investment partner for the 508,500-square-foot Spring Mill Campus at 1100 E. Hector Street, a property the firm has spent years transforming from a struggling suburban office park into a leasing success story.
The seven-building, 33-acre complex traces its roots to the Lee Tire & Rubber Company, which opened a manufacturing plant on the site in the 1910s and operated there until about 1978, according to PHILADELPHIA.Today. The original 1909 administration building was designed by architect William Steele for the company, which was incorporated in 1911 as the successor to the J. Ellwood Lee Company, a surgical supply business founded in 1883, according to architectural records documented on Wikipedia. The campus's main building joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, per the same PHILADELPHIA.Today report.
Developers first converted the former manufacturing plant into a suburban office campus in 1987, according to Whitemarsh-Plymouth News, meaning the site has functioned as commercial office space for nearly four decades. The outlet also reports that the 33-acre campus includes the historic Peter Legaux Mansion at 446 East North Lane, a stone dwelling dating to circa 1735 that is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also known historically as Mount Joy.
Occupancy Climbs From 65% to 86%
Alliance HP acquired the seven-building campus in 2019. While real estate media reported the purchase price as $81 million, Montgomery County property records reflect an acquisition price of $74 million, Whitemarsh-Plymouth News reported, noting that commercial sale figures sometimes reflect total capitalization commitments including planned capital expenditures. Alliance HP then invested $15 million into renovations, driving occupancy from 65 percent up to 86 percent.
Richard Previdi said Alliance HP wants performance pricing that reflects the property's turnaround, per PHILADELPHIA.Today's reporting. The leasing recovery shows up in rents too: the campus had annual rents of about $22 per square foot in 2019, has since climbed to roughly $30 per square foot campus-wide, and new leases are approaching $40 per square foot.
Industrial Character Draws Life Sciences and Tech Tenants
The report describes the campus as having an industrial character. Current tenants include ExtremityCare, a Conshohocken-based biotech tissue company; ZeroEyes, an AI security firm; Main Line Health; and Deerfield Group. Individual tenant spaces on campus range from 756 square feet to 50,000 square feet, with the longest-tenured tenant operating on site for 26 years, Whitemarsh-Plymouth News reported.
That flexibility has drawn engineering and life sciences firms elsewhere on the corridor as well. Global life sciences engineering firm DPS Group expanded its Philadelphia-area headquarters into a converted warehouse at 1020 Spring Mill Avenue featuring 20-foot ceilings and exposed structural framing, Boston Real Estate Times reported in 2022, providing an example of an engineering and life sciences firm using a converted warehouse in the area.
Amenities, Transit Access, and Parking
The campus includes a coffee bar, a fitness center, and the Daisy Tavern restaurant, with an entrance through a converted stone water tower and a campus sign visible from I-76. The complex also sits less than a quarter-mile from SEPTA's Spring Mill Station on the Manayunk/Norristown Line, connecting workers directly to Philadelphia, according to Whitemarsh-Plymouth News, a proximity that helps employers tap into the city's urban talent pool.
On the practical side, the 33-acre, seven-building complex contains 1,642 surface parking spaces, according to Philly Office Space, substantial capacity that remains essential for suburban office hubs even alongside rail transit.
JLL Runs the Marketing Effort
JLL is marketing the Spring Mill Campus on Alliance HP's behalf, with a team that includes Jim Galbally, Brett Segal, and Matthew Blumberg, per PHILADELPHIA.Today. LoopNet lists an Alliance Partners entity in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
JLL is marketing the Spring Mill Campus on Alliance HP's behalf, with a team that includes Jim Galbally, Brett Segal, and Matthew Blumberg, per PHILADELPHIA.Today. LoopNet lists an Alliance Partners entity in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
