PPD building: Sale of iconic downtown Wilmington building sees 'steady progress'

The tallest and perhaps most-coveted building in downtown Wilmington remains up for sale more than four months after PPD owner Thermo Fisher Scientific announced plans to downsize.

Since the company told employees and the public about plans to relocate its Wilmington offices, the future of downtown's iconic PPD building has remained in flux.

But the company is making "steady progress" in selling the building at 929 N. Front St. and finding new office space in the area, according to Ned Glascock, a senior director of communications and public affairs with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

PHOTOS: PPD building in downtown Wilmington through the years

Downtown Wilmington: How the PPD high-rise shaped downtown Wilmington development and what's next if it's sold

They've enlisted three real estate firms to help with the sale of the building. That includes global commercial real estate firms JLL and Cushman and Wakefield along with local commercial real estate company Cape Fear Commercial, according to Glascock.

The PPD building towers approximately 193 feet above downtown -- making it the tallest building in New Hanover County. PPD, the clinical research company bought last year by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., has owned and occupied the building since 2007.

It has at least 380,000 total square feet and sits on a close to a 7.5-acre lot, according to New Hanover County property records, and the PPD building has a lot to offer -- 12 floors of office space, its own parking deck, sunset views of the Cape Fear River along with proximity to downtown Wilmington and the up-and-coming Brooklyn Arts District.

An appraisal from New Hanover County places the property's value at more than $71.7 million, according to property records. The building cost approximately $80 million to build in 2007.

PPD employees continue to work out of the downtown office space, Glascock wrote in an email to StarNews. In recent years, the number of company employees working remotely has climbed, a trend even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

When the company announced a potential sale, a senior vice president noted "a significant percentage of our colleagues and job candidates prefer a hybrid work model, coming into the office for collaboration purposes, which necessitates more flexible workspaces and fewer dedicated offices."

PPD employs approximately 1,700 people, making it one of Wilmington's largest private employers.

When news broke about the building's sale, some working in Wilmington's real estate market said the building had potential as office space or could be redeveloped for other uses, including apartments or other commercial uses.

Atlanta-based architecture firm Cooper Carry had at least four developers ask the company to perform yield studies on the property to gauge how the building could be developed into multi-family housing or commercial space, said Steve Smith, a principal with the company. Cooper Carry designed the headquarters building in the mid-2000s.

The yield studies found the building could house between 285 and 300 apartments, depending on their size, Smith said. None of the developers that asked for yield studies are currently pursuing redeveloping the property, Smith said. Cooper Carry has completed other "adaptive reuse" projects that have converted large office spaces -- like the PPD building -- into apartments and retail.

The PPD building's open space makes it unique and could accommodate a variety of uses from apartments to office space. “Even as I look back at the PPD building … the column-free space, which most of these older buildings do not have, was just fantastic,” Smith said.

In the end, the future of the building will all depend on the needs of Wilmington's real estate market, according to Smith. “If the market needs housing, then you build housing," he said. "If the market doesn't need office, you don't build office.”

Reporter Emma Dill can be reached at 910-343-2096 or edill@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Sale of downtown Wilmington's PPD building sees 'steady progress'