Studley's brokers help AAA achieve its space needs.

Studley recently closed four real estate transactions totaling nearly a half-million s/f for AAA Mid-Atlantic Inc. Studley was hired in May 2003 to represent AAA on all of its commercial real estate transactions.

According to Robert Bull, senior managing director in Studley's Edison, N.J. office, "AAA Mid-Atlantic Inc. hired Studley to facilitate its real estate strategy of leasing its office space rather than owning it, which was the policy of many of the AAA offices that were absorbed into AAA Mid-Atlantic Inc., and focus the company's capital on its core business."

The most notable of the four transactions is the 15-year lease on AAA's new 157,000 s/f build-to-suit facility in Wilmington, Delaware, which will house the company's headquarters previously located in Philadelphia. The six-story office building, which is currently under construction, is located along the Christina riverfront in downtown Wilmington, an area undergoing extensive redevelopment.

"AAA is an important tenant for this area," said Philip Lipper, managing director of Studley's New Jersey office. "The company's presence will serve as a catalyst to ignite the riverfront redevelopment. In order to secure AAA as a tenant, Studley worked with state and local agencies, as well as local developers, to facilitate a land swap so that AAA could locate its building along the river rather than across the street from it, which was the original, less desirable building site."

According to Michael Kennedy, senior managing director of Studley's Philadelphia office, in addition to the land swap, the state and city governments provided AAA with a host of financial incentives to secure the company's relocation to Delaware. The riverfront property, owned by The Commonwealth Group, broke ground in June 2004 and is expected to be completed by mid-2005, when AAA will take occupancy.

In an effort to consolidate its office space and provide ample room for future growth, Studley brokers Bull, Lipper and Kennedy also negotiated two additional leases in Newark, Delaware.

The company's commitment to an expanded operations center culminated in the signing of a 15-year 68,000 s/f lease at 200 Commerce Drive and another 15-year lease for 13,000 s/f at 100 Commerce Drive.

"The two buildings are part of a three-building office park leased to Computer Sciences," Bull said. "We came in and structured a deal whereby Computer Sciences would buy-out of its lease on the space that it wasn't using, thereby allowing AAA to sign a direct lease with the building owner, Brandywine Realty Trust."

In addition to the Delaware buildings, the three-member Studley team also negotiated with Brandywine on a 15-year, 75,000 s/f build-to-suit lease in Mt. Laurel, N.J.

The building, which will be located at 100 Howard Boulevard, will house AAA's technology center. The unique high-tech building, which will feature a tiered "wedding cake" design, is scheduled to break ground in September 2004. AAA is expected to take occupancy by September 2005.

"Moving its Technology Center to this building was beneficial for two reasons," said Kennedy. "The building met AAA's specific space and technology requirements and the state offered the company financial incentives."

The last of Studley's recent transactions on behalf of AAA was the disposition of its original 180,000 s/f headquarters at 23 S. 23rd St. in Center City, Penn. Since AAA moved its headquarters from this location in the 1960's, the firm had been using it for storage and as a garage for its fleet of vehicles.

The buyer, Philadelphia-based developer Turchi Inc. acquired the property with plans to convert it into condominiums. Turchi represented itself in the transaction.