Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia publishes the owner of all 583,713 of its properties and the price of every recorded sale, free and refreshed nightly, but the City 'reserves all rights in the database'. On the roll, several of its tallest towers are still in the names of owners who have since sold.

8 buildings · 8 with an owner established · 19 sources · 8 tier B · prepared 2026-10-13

Can you find out who owns it?

Pennsylvania records title by deed with the county recorder, and in Philadelphia, a combined city and county, that recorder is the City's Department of Records. The City publishes the owner of record, mailing address and market value of every property as open data, refreshed nightly. It also publishes every document recorded since December 1999, including deeds with grantor, grantee, address and the price on which realty transfer tax was paid (3.278% to the City plus 1% to the state). Deed images can be searched in PhilaDox, but printing needs a subscription starting at $15 a day. The catch is the licence: 'The City of Philadelphia reserves all rights in the database'.

Is ownership public?An open dataset names the owner

Cost of one title searchOwner of record free (OPA open data). PhilaDox online deed search: view watermarked copies; print with a subscription of $15/day, $60/week, $125/month or $750/year. Copies of recorded documents $2 per page; certification $2 per document

Bulk ownership dataOPA 'Philadelphia Properties and Assessment History' (opa_properties_public: owner, mailing address, market value, sale date and price), CSV/GeoJSON/API on OpenDataPhilly, updated nightly; City of Philadelphia License, under which the City 'reserves all rights in the database'

Sale pricesEvery sale, with its address

Sites that forbid taking their data

www.phila.gov — “Distribution or republication in any other form or for any other purpose, including any commercial purpose or use, and any modification whatsoever, are strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of the City.”

The marquee buildings

The towers that set the tone of the core, and who holds them. A price is the price a document states, on the date it states — not an estimate of what the building is worth now.

Building	Use	Owner	Owner type	Last price paid
Comcast Technology Center 1800 Arch Street, Philadelphia 1.3M sq ft office plus a 217-room Four Seasons hotel (Liberty Property Trust 10-K); office unit 1,103,300 sq ft on the OPA roll · 60 floors	Mixed use	Comcast Corporation Comcast's FY2025 10-K: 'We also own the Comcast Technology Center'. In FY2019 it said 'We own 80% interests in entities' holding this tower and Comcast Center. Liberty Property Trust's 2018 10-K: two JVs formed with Comcast in 2014, Liberty holding 20% of each, projected cost $961.2M. The roll still names the office owner Liberty Property 18th & Arch LP ($327.6M: $32.8M taxable land, $294.8M exempt building). Hotel unit: 18th & Arch Hotel LLC ($63.1M), mailing address One Comcast Center. A public unit stands in PIDC/Development Corp's name. No price for Comcast's buyout of the last 20% was found.	Public company	—B U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Comcast Center 1701 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia 1.26M sq ft (Liberty Property Trust 10-K); 1,200,021 sq ft on the OPA roll · 58 floors	Office	Comcast Corporation Comcast's FY2025 10-K: 'We own our corporate headquarters, which is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at One Comcast Center.' In 2018 Liberty Property Trust held 20% of 'Liberty/Comcast 1701 JFK Boulevard LP … engaged in the ownership of a 1.26 million square foot office tower', and Comcast's FY2019 10-K stated 80%. The roll's owner of record is still LIBERTY PROPERTY PHILA LTD IV EAST. 2027 market value $361,686,800, of which land is $72,624,800 on a 30,179 sq ft lot. A 2023 recorded instrument names Liberty Property Philadelphia IV West LLC, Liberty Property Trust and Comcast Corporation together.	Public company	—B U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
BNY Mellon Center 1735 Market Street, Philadelphia about 1.3M sq ft (Equity Commonwealth); 1,449,928 sq ft on the OPA roll · 54 floors	Office	Silverstein/Arden 1735 Market Holdco LP affiliates, through EQC Nine Penn Center Property LLC 100% of the equity interests in the fee owner Equity Commonwealth's 8-K: it closed 'the sale of 100% of the equity interests in the fee simple owner of 1735 Market Street … to certain affiliates of Silverstein/Arden 1735 Market Holdco LP'. The buyer took over the owning company itself, which is why the roll still names EQC NINE PENN CENTER PROP as owner of record. It is the city's highest-valued office parcel: 2027 market value $370,211,500, land $74,042,300. Assessment history: $390.0M in 2023–24, $365.0M in 2025–26. Mortgage assignments to a Wells Fargo trustee were recorded in 2020. No default was found in the records opened.	Private company	$451,600,000 2019-03-26 Equity Commonwealth 8-K: gross sale price $451.6M, net $435.4M. A realty-transfer-tax certificate of stock transfer for $451,600,000 was recorded on 3 Apr 2019. B U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
One Liberty Place 1650 Market Street, Philadelphia 1,464,000 sq ft (OPA roll) · 61 floors	Office	Philadelphia Liberty Place LP The OPA roll names the owner PHILA LIBERTY PLA E LP (cut short by the roll's 25-character field). It mails tax bills care of Cushman & Wakefield of PA at the building, which makes the firm the manager, not the owner. A 2003 recorded instrument spells out Philadelphia Liberty Place L P. 2027 market value $311,459,300, with land at $62,579,300 on 32,876 sq ft. Built 1986. No SEC filing, CMBS prospectus or press release opened here names the partners behind the LP.	Private company	—B City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Two Liberty Place (office condominium) 1601 Chestnut Street (50 S 16th St), Philadelphia 694,386 sq ft office unit A, plus two 198,396 sq ft units B and C (OPA roll)	Mixed use	Offices at Two Liberty Place (name as cut short on the roll) and Two Liberty Place LP Two Liberty Place is a condominium. On the roll, office unit A ($109,208,700) stands in 'OFFICES AT TWO LIBERTY PL', and units B ($42.6M) and C ($40.2M) in TWO LIBERTY PLACE LP. Upper-floor units were split off in 2007 to 'Residence(s) at Two Liberty Place LP' and sold as homes, and their buyers are private individuals who are not named here. No filing opened here names who holds the office units.	Private company	—B City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Three Logan Square 1717 Arch Street, Philadelphia 1,029,413 sq ft net rentable, 93.2% occupied (Brandywine 10-K) · 51 floors	Office	Brandywine Realty Trust (Brandywine Operating Partnership LP) 100% Brandywine's FY2025 10-K lists 1717 Arch Street in its Philadelphia CBD core properties, and Schedule III gives 'Three Logan Square (1717 Arch Street)': built 1990, acquired 2010, gross carrying amount $185.5M. Roll owner: BRANDYWINE OPERATING PARTNERS LP, at $232,729,200 (2027). An adjoining parcel at the same address passed from Verizon Properties to 3 LOGAN LLC for $20.7M in 2013 and is mailed to Brandywine's Radnor office. The transfers data also shows a June 2010 deed from Verizon Properties to BAT Partners LP at $260,500,000, and nothing in the record explains the gap between the two 2010 prices.	REIT	$128,989,713 2010-08-04 Deed BAT Partners LP to Brandywine Operating Partnership LP, consideration $128,989,713.04 (state tax $1,289,897.13), Real Estate Transfers. B U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
FMC Tower at Cira Centre South 2929 Walnut Street, Philadelphia 625,863 sq ft office, 98.2% occupied (Brandywine 10-K)	Mixed use	Brandywine Realty Trust (Brandywine Cira Walnut 1) 100% Brandywine built the tower, and its FY2025 10-K lists it as a core Philadelphia CBD property. Schedule III shows construction in 2016 and a gross carrying amount of $410.3M. Brandywine also runs a residential operation at 2929 Walnut Street. The roll's owner of record is BRANDYWINE CIRA WALNUT 1, at a 2027 market value of $282,218,900, all of it taxable building. Tax bills go to 'Tax Administration' at the building. The building was developed, not bought, so there is no purchase price.	REIT	—B U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Centre Square 1500 Market Street, Philadelphia 1,759,000 sq ft (Equity Commonwealth); 2,215,276 sq ft on the OPA roll · 43 floors	Office	NG 1500 Market St LLC 100% Equity Commonwealth's Q2 2017 release: it 'closed on the sale of 1500 Market, also known as Centre Square, a 91.2% leased, 1,759,000 square foot office property … for a gross sale price of $328 million'. On 22 Feb 2023 a lis pendens was recorded naming NG 1500 Market St LLC, Wells Fargo as trustee for the JPMCC 2020-MKST CMBS trust, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. No sheriff's deed or later deed appears. The roll's 2027 market value is $107,000,000, a third of the 2017 price, down from $349.9M in 2020–22. No source opened names the investors behind the LLC.	Private company	$328,000,000 2017-07-14 Deed HUB Properties Trust / EQC Operating Trust to NG 1500 Market St LLC, $328,000,000, with $3.28M state and $10.17M local transfer tax. Equity Commonwealth reported the same gross price. B City of Philadelphia, Department of Records

The core land

The most valuable ground in the city, and what the public record says about it.

Center City's towers sit on small, very valuable lots. OPA puts $72.6M of land under Comcast Center's 30,179 sq ft, about $2,400 per sq ft. Two of the three most valuable parcels in the city are City-owned, one of them 1 Citizens Bank Way, whose tax bills go care of the Phillies. The most valuable private parcel is a casino. Figures are 2027 market values from the OPA open-data file read 13 Oct 2026 and summed by this research. Prices are from the Department of Records' Real Estate Transfers data.

Highest-valued parcel$496,284,800

1020 Pattison Ave, owned by the City of Philadelphia (608,400 sq ft of improvements). Next is the City-owned 1 Citizens Bank Way, $442,765,700, which mails tax bills care of the Phillies. OPA, read 2026-10-13.

Highest-valued private parcel$457,959,300

900 Packer Ave, GLP Capital LP (Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia). Bought 1 Mar 2022 from Stadium Casino RE LLC for $550,641,567, which carried $5.51M state and $18.05M local transfer tax (Real Estate Transfers).

Highest-valued office parcel$370,211,500

1735 Market St (BNY Mellon Center). 909 parcels coded 'Offices' total $11.57B. OPA 2027 market value.

Center City land benchmarkabout $2,400 per sq ft

Comcast Center: land $72,624,800 on 30,179 sq ft. One Liberty Place: $62,579,300 on 32,876 sq ft (about $1,900). 1735 Market: $74,042,300 on 52,958 sq ft (about $1,400). OPA 2027.

All property in Philadelphia$247.05 billion

583,713 properties on the OPA file, of which 463,010 are single-family at $128.4B. 2027 market value, summed from opa_properties_public and matched by the 2027 rows of the assessment-history table.

Realty transfer tax4.278% of price

'One to the City for 3.278% of the sale price (plus any assumed debt), and One to the Commonwealth for 1%' (phila.gov). The tax is why every recorded sale carries its price. Deed recording fee $278.75.

Who owns the town

At this scale the significant owner is rarely a trust or a fund: it is one or two local holding companies, a family in its second or third generation, and often the land around the town rather than the buildings in it.

The largest holders are public and institutional. The City alone holds more than 4,800 parcels worth $7.2B. The Housing Authority, Land Bank and Redevelopment Authority together hold over 8,300 mostly small residential parcels: the city's stock of vacant and public housing lots. Three universities hold $6.0B, Penn half of it. Counts group every spelling of each name across the roll's two owner fields. Acreage is not given, because the roll's lot-area field contains evident keying errors (one school parcel is recorded at 207.7M sq ft). Federal holdings are not counted, because 'USA …' prefixes collide with private LLC names.

Name	Type	OPA roll, 2027 market value
City of Philadelphia Includes 1020 Pattison Ave ($496.3M), 1 Citizens Bank Way ($442.8M), 8500 Essington Ave (Dept of Public Property, $258.8M) and sites named on the roll as Robin Hood Dell/Laurel and the New County Prison site, across 331 name variants ('CITY OF PHILA …'). Exempt, so the value is not taxed.	Government	4,847 parcels, $7.18BA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Philadelphia Housing Authority The largest holder by parcel count. A further 684 parcels ($326.2M) stand in 17 'PHADC'-named LLCs (e.g. PHADC Scattered Sites LLC), and the roll does not spell out the abbreviation.	Government	4,346 parcels, $1.40BA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
University of Pennsylvania (Trustees of) The most valuable non-government holder, across 29 spellings. Includes 3600 Pine St ($201.8M) and 3406–46 Walnut St ($153.9M).	Institution	210 parcels, $3.48BA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
School District of Philadelphia School sites.	Government	325 parcels, $2.76BA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Drexel University Held as Drexel University / Drexel Univ.	Institution	103 parcels, $1.46BA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Temple University Includes Temple University Hospital entities, across 22 spellings.	Institution	177 parcels, $1.11BA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Includes 111 N Broad St ($241.1M). The Pennsylvania Economic Development entity at 1201 Arch St ($166.6M) is not included.	Government	243 parcels, $851.5MA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development / PIDC PAID and PIDC entities. They include 300–18 S Broad St ($215.2M), 1225 Constitution Ave ($106.6M) and other League Island (Navy Yard) parcels, and the public unit at 1800 Arch St.	Government	43 parcels, $538.0MA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority Mostly vacant and small residential lots.	Government	1,554 parcels, $266.4MA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
SEPTA Held as SEPTA and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.	Government	316 parcels, $256.4MA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Philadelphia Land Bank Small vacant lots, average under $50,000 each.	Government	2,467 parcels, $121.9MA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation) Rail land, across 11 spellings. In 2013 Amtrak sold the 2929 Arch St site to Brandywine Cira LP for $23,109,690 (Real Estate Transfers).	Government	76 parcels, $84.9MA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment

Who builds the houses

New-home building in this market: the volume, and the firms behind it. Ownership of a builder matters as much as its volume — a private-equity platform and a family firm behave differently.

Philadelphia builds a few thousand homes a year, most of them in apartment buildings: 2,179 of the 3,366 units permitted in 2025 were in buildings of five or more units. None of the national builders checked (Toll Brothers, Lennar, NVR, Pulte, D.R. Horton, Hovnanian) holds a parcel in the city in its own name. Census permit files show 25,257 units permitted in Philadelphia County in 2021, then 3,223 (2022), 3,863 (2023), 2,962 (2024) and 3,366 in 2025: 656 single-family, 148 in two-unit, 383 in 3–4-unit and 2,179 in 5+-unit buildings. The permit file does not say why 2021 spiked. The wider Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington metro permitted 12,900 units in 2025, including 7,256 single-family, so about three in four of the region's new homes were outside the city. Ownership of new homes is extremely fragmented. Of 5,550 parcels on the roll built 2022–2026, no owner holds more than 63. No Philadelphia builder league table exists, and the figures below are new-built parcels held in each entity's own name.

Name	Type	Parcels built 2022–2026 held in own name, OPA roll
Toll Brothers Headquartered in Fort Washington, PA, in a leased office. Its FY2025 10-K counts 11,292 homes delivered nationally and lists the 'Philadelphia, Pennsylvania metropolitan area' among its markets, with communities 'generally located in affluent suburban areas'. Its City Living high-rise arm is building only one tower, in West New York, NJ. No OPA parcel stands in a Toll name. It announced its exit from multifamily development in Sept 2025.	Public company	0 parcels in the cityA U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Civetta Property Group Single-family parcels built 2022–2026, held in two spellings: 'Civetta Property Group Limited Liability' (35) and 'Civetta Property Group LLC' (17). The roll cannot say whether these are unsold homes or rentals.	Private company	52 parcelsA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
4050 Conshohocken Road LP 51 single-family parcels built 2022–2026 ($21.5M of 2027 value), and 135 parcels in all. The record does not name the sponsor.	Private company	51 parcelsA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
T&I Development LLC 37 parcels built 2022–2026, mostly multi-family, and 82 in all, including 41 vacant-land parcels, with sale dates from 2022.	Private company	37 parcelsA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Philadelphia Housing Authority 30 PHA parcels built 2022–2026: apartment, multi-family and single-family. PHA is also the city's largest holder by parcel count (see landowners).	Government	30 parcelsA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment
Knossos Development LLC 17 parcels built 2022–2026, and 19 of its 22 parcels built 2020 or later: single-family, multi-family and mixed-use.	Private company	17 parcelsA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment

Commercial landlords

The commercial side, counted separately from housing: who holds the office, retail and industrial floor area.

Philadelphia's office market is dominated by one listed landlord, Brandywine Realty Trust, whose 10-K reports 4.7M sq ft in its Philadelphia CBD segment. Most other towers are held through single-purpose partnerships, and the roll names only the LP. Two towers were sold by selling the owning company itself rather than by deed, so the roll still shows the seller's name: 1735 Market and the two Comcast towers.

Name	Type	Philadelphia holding
Brandywine Realty Trust FY2025 10-K: Philadelphia CBD segment core properties (Cira Centre, 1717 Arch, 130 and 100 N 18th St, 1900 Market, 3000/3020 Market, FMC Tower, the Bulletin Building and others), 94.7% occupied. Two Logan Square (100 N 18th St) is held through mortgages on a consolidated VIE, and Brandywine 'agreed to not take title … until the earlier of June 2026'. On the OPA roll, 35 parcels stand in Brandywine-named entities, at $1.25B of 2027 value.	REIT	4,736,126 sq ftA U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Comcast Corporation Not a landlord, but by its own account Comcast owns both of its towers: Comcast Center ($361.7M) and the Comcast Technology Center office unit ($327.6M). Both are still recorded under Liberty Property-named entities (FY2025 10-K; OPA).	Public company	2 towers, $689.3M on the rollB U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLP Capital LP) GLPI's FY2025 10-K: on 1 Mar 2022 it 'completed its acquisition of the real estate assets of Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia' and leased it back to Cordish under a triple-net master lease. The deed states $550,641,567. It is the most valuable privately held parcel in the city.	REIT	1 property, $457,959,300A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
AIR Communities entities (Park Towne Place, Chestnut Hall) OPA roll: Park Towne Place Assoc (2201 Park Towne Pl, $281.2M, 1,179,072 sq ft, bought 1996 for $2.0M) and Aimco Chestnut Hall Ltd Partnership, with tax bills mailed care of AIR Communities, Denver. No filing opened here states AIR's current parent.	Private company	3 parcels, 2,139,453 sq ft, $406.6MA City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment

Looked for and not found

Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.

One Liberty Place's partners. The roll names Phila Liberty Pla E LP, care of Cushman & Wakefield (the manager), and no filing or press release opened here names who owns the LP.
Two Liberty Place's office owners. 'Offices at Two Liberty Pl' and Two Liberty Place LP are on the roll, and no current filing names the sponsor.
When and at what price Comcast bought out the last 20% of its two towers. Its FY2019 10-K says it owned 80% interests, and its FY2025 10-K says 'We own'. The roll still names Liberty Property entities. A 2020 certificate of stock transfer recorded on both addresses declares $333,826,687 across 20 properties, to Liberty Property Limited Partnership. What that covers is not stated, so it is not used as a price.
Centre Square's outcome. A federal-court lis pendens was recorded in Feb 2023 by the CMBS trustee, but no sheriff's deed or new deed appears and the roll still names NG 1500 Market St LLC. Whether the loan was cured, modified or foreclosed was not established. Nor was who stands behind the LLC.
Three Logan Square's two 2010 deeds ($260.5M Verizon to BAT Partners LP in June; $128,989,713 BAT Partners LP to Brandywine in August). The record does not explain the difference.
Cira Square (2970 Market St, $368.1M, owner of record Kim Sub Cira Square LP, mail c/o CoreTrust Capital Partners). 2022 certificates of stock transfer declare $383,000,000 and $396,495,348 to Cira Square Topco Inc. The buyer behind that entity was not established, so it is not in the marquee.
Builder figures are parcels held in each entity's own name, not closings, and the roll cannot tell a builder's unsold home from a landlord's rental. Pro Builder's Top 200 ranks by national revenue and gives no Philadelphia figure.
Federal property (GSA, Postal Service, National Park Service) is not counted: name prefixes collide with private LLCs and could not be separated cleanly.
The full text of the 'City of Philadelphia License' could not be read (metadata.phila.gov is a JavaScript page). The dataset pages state the City 'reserves all rights in the database', so republish stays false and only single facts are cited.
Realty transfer records name private individuals as buyers and sellers of homes and condominium units, including at Two Liberty Place. None is reproduced.
Nareit and CoStar-type landlord rankings remain paywalled or blocked (pack gaps), so the commercial list is built from 10-Ks and the OPA roll.

Sources

OPA property data — opa_properties_public via the City's Carto SQL API (owner, mailing address, 2027 market value, sale date and price), read 13 Oct 2026 — City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment · openA
Philadelphia Properties and Assessment History (dataset page, terms of use, nightly updates) — OpenDataPhilly / City of Philadelphia · openA
Real Estate Transfers — RTT_SUMMARY via the City's Carto SQL API (all documents recorded since 6 Dec 1999, with grantor, grantee, address and consideration) — City of Philadelphia, Department of Records · openA
Real Estate Transfers (dataset page) — OpenDataPhilly / City of Philadelphia · openA
Realty Transfer Tax (3.278% City, 1% Commonwealth) — City of Philadelphia, Department of Revenue · openA
Get a copy of a deed or other recorded document (PhilaDox subscription fees) — City of Philadelphia, Department of Records · openA
Document recording and service fees — City of Philadelphia, Department of Records · openA
Terms of Use — City of Philadelphia · openA
Comcast Corporation — Form 10-K for 2025 (Item 2, Properties) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · openA
Comcast Corporation — Form 10-K for 2019 ('We own 80% interests in entities whose primary assets are the Comcast Center and the Comcast Technology Center') — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · openA
Liberty Property Trust — Form 10-K for 2018 (Liberty/Comcast 1701 JFK Boulevard LP; Liberty Property 18th & Arch joint ventures) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · openA
Brandywine Realty Trust — Form 10-K for 2025 (Item 2 property table; Schedule III) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · openA
Equity Commonwealth — Form 8-K, disposition of 1735 Market Street ($451.6M) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · openA
Equity Commonwealth — Q2 2017 results, Exhibit 99.1 (sale of Centre Square for $328M) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · openA
Gaming and Leisure Properties — Form 10-K for 2025 — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · openA
Toll Brothers — Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · openA
Building Permits Survey — county annual 2025 (co2025a.txt), Philadelphia County FIPS 42/101; also co2021a–co2024a — U.S. Census Bureau · openA
Building Permits Survey — CBSA annual 2025 (cbsa2025a.txt), Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington CBSA 37980 — U.S. Census Bureau · openA
Property Assessment History — assessments table via the City's Carto SQL API (values by year, 2018–2027) — City of Philadelphia, Office of Property Assessment · openA