Commerce Center on Chapel Avenue in Cherry Hill — Courtesy: Diversified Management Plus
By Joshua Burd
A childcare provider is coming to a three-building, 153,000-square-foot office campus in Cherry Hill as part of a project that will add more than 15,000 square feet to the property.
According to Diversified Management Plus, the asset manager for what’s known as Commerce Center, Children of America has signed a long-term, 10,000-square-foot lease and will occupy one of two new buildings at the Chapel Avenue property. Ownership is planning a late 2024 groundbreaking and an early 2025 opening for the facility, which will offer educational and enrichment programming for children ranging from six weeks to 12 years old.
WRJ 4 Sale Realty represented Children of America, a national operator with locations in 17 states.
“Commerce Center is expanding to provide valuable amenities to its tenants and the surrounding communities,” said DMP’s Bill Klein, vice president of operations. “In Children of America, a trusted provider of childcare, the region’s families will benefit by having a convenient location at Commerce Center, which is on the ‘Golden Mile’ for retail between Towne Place and the Cherry Hill Mall. New construction at an office park is a rarity in today’s environment and clearly speaks to the ideal access and quality of this Class A campus.”
DMP noted that Commerce Center has a second freestanding pad site available that can accommodate a 5,200-square-foot building, adding that it will front Haddonfield Road. The firm is targeting medical or retail users, while a groundbreaking date is to be determined.
Vissi Architectural + Design is the architect for both new buildings.
Located at the intersection of Chapel Avenue West and Haddonfield Road, Commerce Center sits just off Route 38 and is less than 10 miles east of Philadelphia, according to a news release. It’s also within a mile of two large-scale retail centers, while tenants have access to an on-site fitness center, shared conference space and ample parking.
Longtime tenant Kremer Eye Center recently relocated and expanded its footprint at the campus and committed to another long-term lease, the news release said. The provider of innovative vision care services and surgical solutions moved from 1800 Chapel Ave. West to a modern facility at the adjacent 1820 Chapel Ave. West.
Recent campus-wide upgrades include new roofs with solar panels on all three buildings, while a renovation this year will add new seating and tables to its courtyard. Additional planned improvements include new monument signage on Haddonfield Road, providing enhanced tenant name exposure on the high-traffic thoroughfare.
“The positive momentum at Commerce Center is palpable,” said Michael Rosenbaum, general manager of DMP. “Along with the range of ongoing upgrades, the addition of an on-site childcare center — a sought-after amenity — will further amplify the complex’s desirability for Class A tenants.”
