Amerimar Enterprises and Abrams Capital announce the acquisition of 401 North Broad Street, a 1.3 million sq ft fiber-rich building located in Philadelphia. Amerimar Enterprises and Abrams Capital are partnering with telecom industry veteran Hunter Newby to own and operate the Property. Debt financing was provided by Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD).  Ropes & Gray LLP, with a team led by partner Walter R. McCabe III, represented Amerimar and Abrams Capital on the acquisition.

“Over the past 30 years, 401 North Broad was strategically repositioned to become the preeminent telecom carrier hotel in the Philadelphia region under the stewardship of The Stillman Group. Amerimar looks forward to continuing with the repositioning of the property through our $70 million capital improvement program," states Jerry Marshall, chief executive officer of Amerimar. "401 North Broad, with over 80 networks, is a logical addition to our portfolio of carrier hotels; and we are very excited to partner with Hunter Newby on yet another telecom property.”

”We are delighted to enter the carrier hotel business with Amerimar and Hunter Newby and look forward to working with the City of Philadelphia to revitalize this historic property,” adds Travis Rhodes of Abrams Capital.

The 11-story, 1,300,000-sq-ft property was originally developed in 1931. The property has since been redeveloped into the most fiber-dense, network-neutral facility between New York and Virginia. The building serves as a major hub for data and Internet traffic and provides data center infrastructure for carriers, service providers, and enterprise customers to interconnect with one another reliably and cost effectively. The building’s location is of particular interest to telecom businesses, as it is a gateway to long haul fiber in the region, and offers direct access to fiber routes to Europe. The building also provides highly reliable data center operations with its robust floor loads, power and HVAC infrastructure.

"401 North Broad Street is an extraordinary carrier hotel,” continues Newby. “Not only is it a major junction point for the north-south domestic fiber routes on the east coast, but it is also home to several transatlantic submarine cable systems, making it a renowned international gateway."

"We're very proud of what we've accomplished at 401 North Broad over the years, turning a somewhat bedraggled and relatively empty, but historically significant, building into this extraordinary asset. I am truly delighted to have passed it on to Jerry Marshall and his partners and team, who collectively will, I'm sure, take this property to the next level. They are very worthy and honorable successors, and we know they will meet with the great success they deserve," states Mr. Abbott Stillman, chairman of The Stillman Group.