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Jewish Federation Sells
2100 Arch St. Building,
Reassesses Real Estate Strategy
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
Photo by Eric Schucht
T he Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
has sold the Jewish Community Services
Building at 2100 Arch St. as part of a strategic
plan to assess its real estate ownership.

Philadelphia developer MM Partners bought the
building for $12 million and has tentative plans to
convert the building into “mixed-use” residential
space. The Jewish Community Services Building was
home to the Jewish Federation, the Jewish Exponent
and other Jewish organizations.

“Owning a number of properties means that we
have a number of other areas that we have to
focus on — maintenance, building, the relationship
of landlord to tenant — and all of those pieces
ultimately can compromise our needing to focus on
our core mission of enriching Jewish life,” Jewish
Federation President and CEO Michael Balaban said.

According to Michael Markman, the president of
BET Investments, a Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia board of directors member and head of
the Jewish Federation’s real estate committee, the
Jewish Federation will save about $500,000 annually
in operating costs. The Jewish Federation will be able
to incorporate that money into the budget, with $11
million going into the nonprofi t’s endowment to be
distributed to the Jewish organizations it supports.

Due to the pandemic and changing work culture,
which supports more work-from-home opportunities,
Jewish organizations were no longer eff ectively using
the offi ces at 2100 Arch St., a 121,500-square-foot
building. Increasingly, non-Jewish entities, including
for-profi t organizations, were renting space there.

“It put us in a position of being a landlord,”
Balaban said. “So from that perspective, again, it’s
not mission-focused.”
The Jewish Federation owns four other proper-
ties in the Greater Philadelphia area, including
the Saligman, Mandell Education, Schwartz and
Feinstein campuses in Wynnewood, Elkins Park,
Bryn Mawr and Northeast Philadelphia, respectively,
which they are considering selling.

“Being in the real estate business just wasn’t the
most effi cient use of our capital,” Markman said.

The Jewish Federation is speaking with its Jewish
tenants of their campuses to assess what space
The former Jewish Community Services Building at 2100 Arch St.

is needed. While some smaller organizations may
no longer need offi ce space, larger entities, such
as the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy on the
Schwartz campus, may need the space. The Jewish
Federation wants those larger groups to buy their
respective spaces within a campus.

“We are talking to them, we’re being sensitive to
their needs and we’re trying to determine what can
be sold or leased,” Markman said.

The Jewish Federation moved to a 23,000-square-
foot offi ce at 20th and Market streets, where the
organization operates on one level, instead of multi-
ple stories. The more centralized layout of the offi ce
is more cost-effi cient and conducive to working
collaboratively. “It was beautiful, it increased morale and it allowed
the organization to operate in an effi cient manner,”
Markman said.

The Jewish Exponent offi ces relocated to Gratz
College in Melrose Park in July.

MM Partners is primarily an adaptive reuse
company, taking older buildings and repurposing
them for new uses. The building at 2100 Arch St. is
well-maintained and is adjacent to other residential
buildings and newer offi ce developments, making it
a good candidate for a residential space, according
to David Waxman, the founder and managing partner
at MM Partners.

MM Partners owns about 1,000 units in the
city, about 120 per building, in the Brewerytown,
Francisville and University City neighborhoods.

Balaban previously employed his philosophy of
reducing the nonprofi t’s property portfolio during
his time as president of the Jewish Federation
of Broward County in South Florida. The Jewish
Federation owned six Federation Housing build-
ings, which housed low-income individuals, including
many refugees from the former Soviet Union.

As the years passed, many of the Jewish refugees
died or moved out of Federation Housing. At one point,
of the 155 apartment units, only four were occupied by
Jewish tenants. The Jewish Federation sold the build-
ings to a nonprofi t that specialized in the Section 202
Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program.

“The tenant didn’t see any real change. Actually,
there were upgrades that were made as part of the
arrangement with the sale,” Balaban said. “From
a tenant standpoint, it moved from one owner to
another owner. But from a Federation revenue stand-
point: $54 million in unrestricted new assets.” ■
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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