MetLife signs largest deal in Philadelphia this year

Real Estate Weekly, Dec 11, 1991

MetLife signs largest deal in Philadelphia this year

In the largest lease transaction in Philadelphia this year, Atochem North America, Inc., one of the world's preeminent chemical companies, has signed a lease for 210,000 square feet of space at 2000 Market Street in Center City, Philadelphia.

Peter Ricker, president of The Galbreath Company, made the announcement. The Galbreath Company is the exclusive leasing and managing agent for the 650,000 square-foot, 29-story office tower owned by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

Atochem will occupy eight floors in the building located at 20th Street, which will serve as its North American headquarters. Wayne Hunt, senior managing director and CEO of Galbreath's Philadelphia office, and Judy Simon, leasing manager, represented 2000 Market Street in the 15-year transaction with MetLife's negotiating team. Atochem was represented by Sal Ambrosio, vice president of Julien J. Studley, Inc.

Atochem is the worldwide chemical arm of the Paris-based Elf Aquitaine, one of the world's top-ten publicly-traded oil and gas conglomerates, with about $34 billion in annual sales.

In a consolidation move in 1989, the 141-year-old French firm Atochem S.A. combined its U.S. chemical businesses and chose Philadelphia as its North American headquarters. The firm is relocating from Three Parkway, also in Center City.