Life Sciences

LAS VEGAS — At the September meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate by 50 basis points, which is the first easing of monetary policy in four years. This move lowered the short-term interest rate to a target range of 4.75 to 5 percent. Elevated borrowing costs have stifled commercial real estate transaction volumes the past couple years as buyers and sellers found that values were a moving target. Now with a reduction in interest rates, many real estate professionals expect transaction volume to rebound at least moderately. “In 2025, we expect lower interest rates will reduce borrowing costs, aid in price discovery and ultimately encourage an uptick in [commercial real estate] transactions,” said Angela Cain, global CEO of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). Cain’s comments came in a prepared statement to summarize the findings of Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2025, an annual report jointly produced by PwC US and ULI. The report was published in conjunction with ULI’s Fall Meeting, which is taking place this week at Resort World Las Vegas. Cain said that the real estate professionals surveyed for the report relayed that sentiment is improving, though many remain cautious. …

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MINNEAPOLIS — A partnership between locally based developer Mortenson and The University of Minnesota Foundation Real Estate Advisors (UMFREA) is in the planning stages of a 12-acre mixed-use village on the eastern edge of the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus. The project, which will span 3 million square feet, is named The Minnesota Innovation Exchange, or “The MIX.” Located in Minneapolis, the development site is bounded to the north by the school’s Biomedical Discovery District and the football stadium, Huntington Bank Stadium. The MIX is bounded to the south by the university’s future clinical campus expansion. Mortensen and UMFREA, which oversees the real estate decisions of the University of Minnesota Foundation, recently selected commercial real estate services giant CBRE to lease The MIX. At full build-out, the private development will include research-and-development space, creative offices, hotel rooms, apartments, shops and restaurants. The project team, which includes architectural firm HGA, hopes to attract life sciences users to The MIX to capitalize on the Twin Cities’ reputation as a hub for health and science activity, including a concentration of medical device manufacturers headlined by Medtronic and 3M. “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for prospective tenants to participate in the most unique …

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Torrey-View

SAN DIEGO — Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture between Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, has completed the development of Torrey View, a 520,000-square-foot life sciences campus located in the Del Mar Heights neighborhood of San Diego.  The 10-acre property was fully preleased and is home to the oncology division of biopharmaceutical company Pfizer, which occupies 230,000 square feet across two buildings; and the innovation center for the biosciences division of BD, a global medical technology company, which occupies a 220,000-square-foot-building. Additional tenants include Charles River Laboratories, Actio Biosciences and Architect Therapeutics. Torrey View offers expansive ocean views and a full suite of amenities, including a client clubhouse, multiple dining options, a fitness center and pickleball court, 400-person conference facility, bike and surfboard storage and a partially below-grade parking garage covered by open green spaces and gardens.  The joint venture acquired the development site for the campus, which has achieved LEED Gold certification, in October 2020. Equity partners in the project included Mitsui Fudosan America, Investment Management Corp. of Ontario and AP2. The development team included life sciences architectural firm Flad Architects and general contractor Clark Construction, and leasing for the project was handled by JLL.  Formed in 2019, Breakthrough Properties …

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66-Galen-Street-Watertown-Massachusetts-1

WATERTOWN, MASS. —Biotechnology company NewCo has signed a 61,189-square-foot life sciences lease in the western Boston suburb of Watertown. The building at 66 Galen St. is a newly completed, 225,000-square-foot facility that is part of a larger, 450,000-square-foot campus. Evan Gallagher and John Carroll of Colliers represented NewCo in the lease negotiations. Duncan Gratton, Connor Barnes and Joe Pearce of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, partnership between two locally based firms, Davis Cos. and Boston Development Group.

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WATERTOWN, MASS. — Biopharmaceutical company LifeMine has signed a 56,465-square-foot life sciences lease in the western Boston suburb of Watertown. The building at 66 Galen St. is a newly completed, 225,000-square-foot facility that is part of a larger, 450,000-square-foot campus. Evan Gallagher and John Carroll of Colliers represented LifeMine in the lease negotiations. Duncan Gratton, Connor Barnes and Joe Pearce of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, a partnership between two locally based firms, Davis Cos. and Boston Development Group.

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BridgeLabs-at-Pegasus-Park-Dallas

DALLAS — A partnership between Montgomery Street Partners and J. Small Investments has completed Bridge Labs at Pegasus Park, a 135,000-square-foot life sciences development in northwest Dallas. The facility is part of Pegasus Park, which is a redevelopment of a 25-acre office campus that originally served as the home of Zale Corp., the parent company of jewelry retailer Zale. Campus amenities include a conference center, brewery, fitness center and outdoor dining and socialization spaces. Perkins + Will designed the project, and Swinerton served as the general contractor. JLL is the leasing agent for the broader campus, which the partnership owns in conjunction with Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

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PACE Appeal Rafi Golberstein

The Federal Reserve’s decision to begin aggressively hiking the federal funds rate in 2022 threw the commercial real estate market into turmoil. Property investors found it difficult to refinance much cheaper short-term loans that were often used to renovate or develop properties. However, the interest rate spike greatly enhanced the viability of commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing, a type of loan that becomes an assessment that borrowers pay along with their tax bill. The program emerged more than a decade ago and generally pays for energy, water and seismic resiliency upgrades in new construction and rehabs, including retroactively. As a result, developers embraced C-PACE as they sought ways to pay down debt to secure new financing or loan extensions and modifications. Now that the Federal Reserve has reversed course with its 50-basis-point federal funds rate reduction in September — and with Wall Street anticipating additional rate cuts before the end of the year — will C-PACE demand start to cool? Don’t count on it, says Rafi Golberstein, founder and CEO of PACE Loan Group, a direct lender of C-PACE financing based in Minneapolis, Minn. From the competitive cost of capital to the continued restraints on bank lending, C-PACE …

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LINX-Watertown

WATERTOWN, MASS. — New York-based Clarion Partners has received a $94 million loan for the refinancing of LINX, a 185,015-square-foot life sciences facility in the western Boston suburb of Watertown. Completed in 2018, the two-story facility was fully leased at the time of the loan closing to three tenants: C4 Therapeutics, Addgene and Tectonic Therapeutic. Amenities include a grab-and-go café, indoor bike storage space, a locker room with showers, green space, a bocce ball court and shuttle service to Harvard Square. Riaz Cassum, Amy Lousararian and Robyn King of JLL arranged the five-year loan through European lender Société Générale on behalf of Clarion Partners.

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MALDEN, MASS. — JLL has negotiated a 60,000-square-foot life sciences lease in Malden, a northern suburb of Boston. The tenant, locally based battery maker Alsym Energy, is relocating its headquarters from nearby Woburn to Exchange 200, a 352,000-square-foot facility that is a redevelopment of a former office building. Molly Heath, Chris McCauley and Anslee Krouch of JLL represented the landlord, a joint venture between Boston-based Berkeley Investments and Chicago-based Singerman Real Estate, in the lease negotiations. Bill Lynch and Caroline Evans of Colliers represented the tenant, which will continue operations at its Woburn facility.

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LEBANON, IND. — Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) has unveiled plans to invest $4.5 billion to create the Lilly Medicine Foundry, a new center for advanced manufacturing and drug development in Lebanon, about 27 miles northwest of Indianapolis. The Medicine Foundry, slated to open in late 2027, will be located in Indiana’s LEAP Research and Innovation District. The project brings Lilly’s total investment in the area to more than $13 billion. Earlier this year, Lilly released plans for a $5.3 billion expansion of its pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Lebanon. “As we accelerate our work to discover new medicines for the toughest diseases, we’re continuing to invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure to support our growing pipeline,” says David Ricks, Lilly’s chair and CEO. “In addition to supplying high-quality medicine for our clinical studies, this new complex will further strengthen our process development and scale up our manufacturing capabilities to speed delivery of next-generation medicines to patients around the world.” Lilly says the flexible design of the new facility will enable production of various molecular therapies, including drug substances for small molecules, biologics and nucleic acid therapies. New technologies developed at the Medicine Foundry will be transferred to Lilly’s other manufacturing sites …

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