HOUSTON — PackGene Biotech, a Massachusetts-based provider of gene therapy solutions, is underway on construction of a 25,000-square-foot life sciences project in South Houston. The site at 9310 Kirby St. will feature space for biomanufacturing, research and development, lab operations, warehousing and office usage. Perkins&Will is designing the facility and BE&K Building Group is serving as the general contractor. Completion is slated for the end of the year.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Locally based investment and development firm The Davis Cos. has topped out a 161,616-square-foot life sciences facility at 101 Smith Place in Cambridge. The facility is one of four buildings within The Quad, a life sciences campus that is home to tenants such as Ginko Bioworks, Civetta Therapeutics, Invaio Sciences, Hyperion and Samsung Electronics. Davis Cos. is developing 101 Smith Place in partnership with Invesco Real Estate. Full completion is slated for the fourth quarter. CBRE will market the facility for lease.
MILLBRAE, CALIF. — JLL Capital Markets has arranged a $310 million construction loan for the development of Avia Labs at Millbrae Station. Located in Millbrae, southwest of San Francisco International Airport, the life sciences development will total 315,000 square feet. Jordan Angel, Lillian Roos and Pat Aslanian of JLL Capital Markets’ debt advisory team secured the loan through Otera Capital for the borrower, Longfellow Real Estate Partners. Longfellow broke ground on Avia Labs on March 1. The six-story, Class A building is targeting LEED Gold and Fitwel certifications and emphasizes both energy efficiency and quality of life for tenants. Onsite amenities will include a fitness center, public café open to the community, large conference spaces, bike storage, two levels of underground parking and a large terrace with city and mountain views. According to the developer, this will be California’s first all-electric life sciences project. All-electric buildings often have reduced construction costs, are easier to maintain and offer a lower carbon footprint than developments that offer multiple energy sources, such as both electric and natural gas. The property is positioned on 2.1 acres at 210 Adrian Road in the North County submarket of the Mid-Peninsula of the San Francisco Bay Area. …
PALO ALTO, CALIF. — BentallGreenOak and Grey Matter by Graymark Capital have started construction on Bayshore Bio, a 100,000-square-foot life sciences campus in Palo Alto. The project is a three-phase conversion of existing office and R&D buildings into lab space. The initial phase includes a two-story, 36,000-square-foot life sciences facility at 2225 E. Bayshore Road. The first phase will convert an existing office building into market-ready lab spaces across two floors with upgraded electrical capacity, new mechanical systems, office space, amenities and dedicated parking. The first building is slated for completion by the end of third-quarter 2023. The project will incorporate indoor/outdoor amenity spaces within the private courtyard and on each floor for collaboration in and out of lab spaces. The second and third phases include single-story R&D buildings at 2197 Bayshore Road and 1050 E. Meadow Circle. BGO and Gray Matter initially acquired the Bayshore Bio campus in June 2021. The three former office and R&D buildings will be converted into modern lab space with a 60/40 lab-to-office ratio for biological research and development. The spaces are designed for early-stage, venture-capital-backed life science companies.
CHICAGO — Trammell Crow Co. and Beacon Capital Partners have broken ground on Hyde Park Labs in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The project will feature 302,388 square feet of lab and office space as well as ground-floor retail and community space. Completion is slated for late 2024. Project costs are estimated at $225 million, according to Crain’s Chicago Business. The University of Chicago has pre-leased one-and-a-half floors of the building totaling 55,000 square feet, a portion of which will house researchers from the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. Space will also be used to develop an incubator program to support startup companies focused on the life sciences. Hyde Park Labs will rise 14 stories. The project marks the second phase of development at Harper Court, which currently features a hotel, office building housing many UChicago administrative offices and retail space. Tenants of Hyde Park Labs will have access to nearly 40,000 square feet of amenities, including a fifth-floor terrace dubbed “The Lawn.” The project team includes Elkus Manfredi Architects, Interactive Design Architects, Power Construction, Ujamaa and Trinal. Dan Lyne and Brandon Green of CBRE are marketing the project for lease.
SMITHFIELD, R.I. — Boston-based investment firm The Davis Cos. has acquired a 122,000-square-foot life sciences facility at 100 Technology Way in Smithfield, a northwestern suburb of Providence. The acquisition includes a vacant 15.5-acre parcel that can support an additional 175,000 square feet of new development. The seller was Rubius Therapeutics, which most recently used the facility for the development of gene and cell therapy treatments. Davis has hired Newmark to market the facility for lease.
CHICAGO — Dimension Inx, a biomaterials platform company that develops therapeutic products to restore tissue and organ function, has signed a 6,410-square-foot life sciences lease at Fulton Labs in Chicago. Owned by Trammell Crow Co. (TCC) and located in the city’s Fulton Market district, the campus spans two buildings and 725,000 square feet. Dimension Inx will occupy a science-ready lab suite at 1375 W. Fulton. The company currently operates out of two locations, one being at Illinois Tech’s University Technology Park and the other at Portal Innovations, which is part of Fulton Labs. Dimension Inx will move into its new headquarters space in March and will still maintain its presence at Portal Innovations. TCC’s science-ready lab suites are private labs available for immediate occupancy that range in size from 3,000 to 7,000 square feet. Tenants have access to building technology and amenities, including a shared lab equipment room, as well as flexible lease terms. Jonathan Metzl and Jack Keenan of Cushman & Wakefield represented Dimension Inx. CBRE handles the leasing and marketing for Fulton Labs.
KENILWORTH, N.J. — Biopharmaceutical giant Merck (NYSE: MRK) has agreed to sell its 108-acre office and research campus in Kenilworth to a joint venture between private investment firms Onyx Equities and Machine Investment Group. The price was not disclosed. The life sciences campus, formerly Merck’s headquarters, features 1.4 million square feet of laboratory space, 500,000 square feet of Class A office space, 30 acres of developable land, a 25-megawatt cogeneration plant, three cafeterias, a fitness center, auditoriums, conference centers, outdoor amenity areas and more than 3,200 surface and structured parking spaces. The property sits off Garden State Parkway and is located near to Route 78, the Route 22 retail corridor, the New Jersey Turnpike, Newark Liberty International Airport and the Port Newark Elizabeth Marine Terminal. Kenilworth is located just across the Arthur Kill waterway that separates New Jersey from Staten Island. The buyers plan to market and lease out the site’s laboratories and support facilities to biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and technology companies. Merck will vacate the property in phases over the next several years while expansion progresses on the firm’s new headquarters in nearby Rahway. “New Jersey receives two forms of good news today as one of the pillars of our business community …
MARLBOROUGH, MASS. — Oxford Properties Group has acquired 92 Crowley Drive, a 120,000-square-foot biomanufacturing facility in Marlborough, approximately 20 miles west of Boston. The property is currently under construction. Resilience, a life sciences company that develops and produces medicine, sold the asset for $125 million. As part of the transaction, Oxford will lease 92 Crowley Drive back to Resilience for up to 30 years. PGIM provided $58 million in fixed-rate acquisition financing for the deal. Upon final completion in late 2023, 92 Crowley will be Resilience’s flagship facility in the U.S., featuring state-of-the-art analytical and manufacturing technology. The facility is designed with multi-modality manufacturing capabilities, dedicated manufacturing suites and complementary office and warehouse space. Resilience has become a leading biomanufacturing company with manufacturing facilities across North America. The transaction at 92 Crowley represents the third sale-leaseback between Oxford and Resilience in a growing strategic partnership. Following the acquisition, Oxford’s biomanufacturing portfolio totals 1.4 million square feet of completed buildings, with a development pipeline of an additional 1 million square feet. While the portfolio is spread across six markets, the largest concentration — 775,000 square feet — is in metro Boston. “We continue to develop a robust expertise on the real …
HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. — Crescent Communities and Nuveen Real Estate have broken ground on the second phase of THE YIELD, a speculative biomanufacturing development in Holly Springs, roughly 20 miles southwest of Raleigh. This phase will comprise three shell-ready, cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) biomanufacturing buildings totaling 322,000 square feet. The first two buildings are scheduled for completion in late 2023, with the third delivery expected in spring 2024. Including the first phase, which was sold to Apollo Global Real Estate and GeneSuites and is now known as Catalyst BioCampus, the development will total 2 million square feet of biomanufacturing, office/lab and retail space.