BOSTON — CytoTronics, a life sciences company specializing in cell biology research, has signed a 14,000-square-foot lease in Boston’s Seaport District. The space is located within GENESIS 12 Farnsworth, a 73,000-square-foot former office building. CBRE represented the landlord, Phase 3 Real Estate Partners, in the lease negotiations. The tenant representative was not disclosed.
WILMINGTON, DEL. — Biopharmaceutical giant Merck (NYSE: MRK) has broken ground on a $1 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Wilmington, about 30 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Known as Merck Wilmington Biotech, the 470,000-square-foot project will comprise laboratory, manufacturing and warehouse capabilities. Merck says the center will enable the launch and commercial production of next-generation biologics and therapies. Notably, the facility will be the Rahway, N.J.-based company’s first domestic site for producing cancer treatment drug Keytruda. Reuters reports that the Delaware plant is in effort to expand domestic production as Merck prepares to deal with President Trump’s tariffs. In its first-quarter financial results, Merck estimated that the impact of tariffs imposed so far would lead to additional costs of approximately $200 million for the company in general. Located within the 164-acre, 14-building Chestnut Run Innovation & Science Park (CRISP), the new facility will help foster growth in Wilmington’s biotechnology sector, creating more than 500 full-time roles and roughly 4,000 construction jobs. The laboratory component is expected to be fully operational by 2028, with production of experimental drugs anticipated to start by 2030. Pennsylvania-based developer MRA Groups owns CRISP, which is in the midst of a large-scale repositioning, and MRA Group is …
CHICAGO — Grove Biopharma has leased space for its headquarters and research and development (R&D) lab at 400 North Aberdeen in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood. Trammell Crow Co. (TCC) owns the property, which is part of the Fulton Labs development. Grove Biopharma is a preclinical biotechnology startup that previously operated out of Portal Innovation’s Fulton Labs location. The startup recently closed a $30 million Series A financing round and is now moving into its own space within a 17,000-square-foot Science-Ready Lab suite. “Grove Biopharma is the perfect example of the thesis we planned our Fulton Labs campus around. It’s a company that spun out of Northwestern, then moved to Portal Innovations for incubation and the support ecosystem and is now moving into a large Science-Ready Lab suite to accommodate further growth,” says Morgan Baer Blaska, vice president with TCC Midwest. “In the past, a company on this growth trajectory would have considered moving to one of the coasts, but both Portal and Fulton Labs have provided an environment where science startups can grow and thrive here in Chicago.” Founded in 2020, Grove Biopharma is pioneering its Bionic Biologics platform to develop therapies targeting previously intractable intracellular disease targets. Dan Lyne …
WALTHAM, MASS. — Locally based owner-operator Hobbs Brook Real Estate is underway on the renovation of a 384,841-square-foot office and life sciences facility located at 404 Wyman St. in the western Boston suburb of Waltham. The building is part of an 11-building campus that is home to tenants such as Dassault Systems, FM Global, Commonwealth Financial Network and ZoomInfo. Renovations will include the addition of a new fitness center, a remodeling of lobby and upgrading of the conference center and café. In addition, Hobbs Brook will develop expansive outdoor spaces with seating areas, fire pits and new landscaping. Completion is slated for early next year.
NATICK, MASS. — Regional design-build firm Dacon Corp. has completed a 35,000-square-foot life sciences project in Natick, a western suburb of Boston. The facility is the third in the area for ABI-LAB, a user that provides shared laboratory services for researchers in fields such as immunology, oncology, regenerative medicine, diagnostics and precision medicine. The newest facility houses 10 labs that range in size from 900 to 2,500 square feet and brings ABI-LAB’s total Natick footprint to roughly 112,000 square feet.
SAN DIEGO — Diversified Healthcare Trust, which is managed by The RMR Group, has completed the sale of MUSE, a three-building life sciences campus in San Diego, to Breakthrough Properties for $159 million. Substantially renovated between 2020 and 2022, the 186,000-square-foot asset consists of two fully leased wet lab buildings and one vacant office building. Overall, MUSE is 49 percent leased to Merck, Aegis Life, Organogenesis and Halloran. The renovation included the addition of a fitness center, full-service cafe and an indoor/outdoor conference center. MUSE is located at 3030, 3040 and 3050 Science Park Road in the Torrey Pines submarket of San Diego. JLL Capital Markets Investment Sales and Advisory team led by Kurt Luedkte and Zac Saloff represented the seller. JLL also arranged post-closing financing for the two buildings and will continue to handle leasing for the entire MUSE campus.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Newmark has brokered the sale of a life sciences building located at 359 Allston St. in Cambridge. According to LoopNet Inc., the building was constructed in 1987 and totals 7,517 square feet. The building was renovated in 2022 and was fully leased at the time of sale to Vaxess Technologies. Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen, James Tribble, Samantha Hallowell, William Sleeper, Joseph Alvarado and Casey Valente of Newmark represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction and procured the buyer, King Street Properties.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) has unveiled plans for its new global headquarters in Cambridge, located across the Charles River from Boston. The biotechnology company has selected Kendall Common, located at 75 Broadway, as the site of its new hub as part of a multi-year consolidation plan in Massachusetts that encompasses Biogen’s existing facilities in the Kendall Square area of Boston. Specifically, Biogen has signed a 15-year lease to occupy 580,000 square feet of office and life sciences space at Kendall Common, which is being developed by a joint venture between Blackstone subsidiary BioMed Realty and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Investment Management Co. The space will feature upgraded workspaces and modern amenities, along with sustainable design elements such as advanced water conservation measures and energy-efficient systems. In addition, the building will house the Biogen CoLab, a classroom-style community laboratory and collaborative space. Occupancy is slated for 2028.
WILSON, N.C. AND NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), has broken ground on a $2 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Wilson, about 50 miles east of Raleigh. The project is part of a larger, $55 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing, research-and-development (R&D) and technology initiatives that the global pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer health products provider is planning over the next four years. “Today’s announcements accelerate our nearly 140-year legacy as an American innovation engine tackling the world’s toughest healthcare challenges,” says Joaquin Duato, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson. “Our increased U.S. investment begins with the ground-breaking of a high-tech facility in North Carolina that will not only add U.S.-based jobs but manufacture cutting-edge medicines to treat patients in America and around the world.” The new manufacturing facility will span approximately 500,000 square feet and will create 5,000 construction jobs, as well as 500 specialized positions for employees and contractors, including process technicians, laboratory analysts, engineers and microbiologists. Upon completion, Johnson & Johnson plans to produce medicines for people with cancer, immune-mediated and neurological diseases at the Wilson plant. The company estimates that the facility will have an economic impact of $3 billion in North …
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Baltimore-based Wexford Science + Technology, in partnership with The University of California, Davis and the City of Sacramento, has announced the groundbreaking of Aggie Square, a mixed-use development at UC Davis Health Campus in Sacramento. Located at the corner of Stockton Boulevard and 2nd Avenue, Aggie Square’s first phase will offer 808,000 square feet of upscale Class A life sciences research labs, technology and office space, plus housing and retail space. The ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for May 2. Situated on 8.2 acres, Phase I consists of a 313,000-square-foot lab and life sciences building, a 255,000-square-foot Lifelong Learning office and classroom building, a 35,000-square-foot UC Veterinary Genetics Lab, and Anova Aggie Square, a 190-unit residential development with 15,000 square feet of retail space. The first phase also offers community serving uses, a parking structure and indoor/outdoor public spaces. Each building is anchored by UC Davis programs and configured to co-locate private industry investment and innovation infrastructure for startups, as well as community-based partnerships. The project team is also marketing another 313,000-square-foot lab and life sciences building with ground-floor retail located at 100 Aggie Square. The building offers flexible design, and construction will commence once preleasing thresholds are met. …