In 2001, Shuman Development Group in Reading bought the former Exide Battery headquarters at 645 Penn St. in downtown Reading. In 2005, he sold it for $6.4 million to REVA Catalyst Fund of Richmond, Va.
Shuman now again owns the building.
According to Shuman Development Group’s owner, Alan Shuman, REVA believed it could no longer compete with the nearby tax-free city-owned buildings that can offer cheaper rent, so Shuman’s company bought the building back for $2.6 million.
“They [REVA] determined they wouldn’t get the value back to what it was,” Shuman said this morning. “They didn’t think they were in a position to compete to keep tenants in, so they just wanted to unload it.”
Built in 1978, the five-story building and its 105,499 square feet of space are home to multiple tenants, including the Downtown Improvement District Authority, an attorney and an advertising agency – and has space for retail on the ground floor.
Because Shuman owns other buildings and management, he said, he can utilize economies of scale and keep down costs that other stand-alone buildings can’t do.
“Anytime I can pick up a building for one third of what I sold it for, I’m interested,” he said.
