A suburban Philadelphia developer this month plans to buy the Keystone Branch postal facility at the entry to Harrisburg’s industrial zone, though the company has no firm plans yet for the site.
Adam Meinstein, president of Blue Bell-based Equilibrium Equities, said his company is purchasing the 11-acre property on Market Street, just east of the Harrisburg Transportation Center, on speculation, with no tenant in place.
“We are not coming in with a customer for the building,” he said. “It has potential for retail, office and industrial.”
Meinstein would not disclose the sales price, but said his company would complete the purchase on Sept. 15. It then will begin a $1.5 million rehabilitation of the 237,000-square-foot masonry building, which was built in 1962 as the region’s main postal sorting facility. Renovation should take nine months, he said.
This sprawling building, he said, is in “excellent shape,” but needs new heating and cooling systems and energy-efficient lighting. It also needs to be spruced up and emptied of its heavy postal equipment, he said.
The U.S. Postal Service has been trying to sell the property for about two years. Meinstein said his company has been considering the purchase since he first saw the property about 18 months ago.
Even though the company has yet to complete the sale, it already has shown the building to prospective tenants, Meinstein said, adding that the site’s location near the train station, I-83 and downtown Harrisburg makes it attractive for many businesses.
Mayor Linda Thompson praised Meinstein for investing in Harrisburg, particularly given the city’s well-publicized financial crisis. She said she looked forward to the day when the property again would become commercially active.
“We’ll have economic opportunity soon in that area, in less than two years, about the same time we’ll get to fiscal solvency,” she said.
