In 2006, 1122-24 Chestnut St. and 1126-28 Chestnut St. were purchased by a company called Allied 1122 for $10M. Within two years, Petra Capital Management, not expecting to get back the $16.5M they lent the developer for the purchase and renovation of these buildings, took ownership of the properties. We did a little digging and determined that Allied 1122 was owned by Gagandeep Lakhmna, disgraced former principal of CREI. In case you don’t remember, CREI’s American Loft project and most of their other properties ended up going to sheriff sale a couple of years ago.

Both buildings

Looking up

The backs of the buildings. Looking west on Sansom St.

A few weeks ago, scaffolding went up on the rear side that faces Sansom St. Could work be taking place to make the building resemble this rendering, originally from an old listing for the properties?

Looks pretty good

As early as 1870, a company called Milliken’s was located in 1126-28 (see their newspaper ad here). In the early 1900′s, a women’s clothier and fur company, Oppenheim, Collins and Company, was located at this address.  Back then, this stretch of Chestnut St. was home to several furriers and clothiers. In 1945, Oppenheim was bought out by Franklin Simon & Company.

We don’t know much more about the buildings’ current state, except that they’re vacant and poorly maintained. Looks like a job for Tony Goldman, no?

Looking back at the old listing from 2005, we were reminded of the ill-advised effort to rename the neighborhood “B3″ aka “Blocks Below Broad.” Fortunately, that name never stuck. Does anyone remember thinking that B3 was a good idea? Or better yet, does anyone know what’s going on with the work being done on these buildings?