PHILADELPHIA — BioLabs, an incubator for life sciences companies, has signed a 30,151-square-foot lease expansion at The Curtis, a facility in Philadelphia’s Center City District that is a redevelopment of a historic publishing house. The tenant’s footprint is now 53,529 square feet, and the move-in is scheduled for early 2023. Other tenants at The Curtis, which also houses traditional office space, include Aro Biotherapeutics, IMVAX Inc. and Vivodyne. Keystone Development + Investment owns the property.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda has signed a 600,000-square-foot life sciences lease in Cambridge’s Kendall Square neighborhood. Takeda will occupy the entirety of the 16-story building at 585 Third St., which is being developed by San Diego-based REIT BioMed Realty and is slated for a 2026 completion. CBT Architects designed the facility, which will include 15,000 square feet of flexible space and a 300-seat theater, both of which will be open to the public. CBRE represented BioMed Realty in the lease negotiations. Cushman & Wakefield represented Takeda.
YPSILANTI, MICH. — Michigan Innovation Headquarters (MI-HQ), a provider of life sciences and technology workspaces, has entered into a purchase agreement for Eastern Michigan University’s former College of Business headquarters building in downtown Ypsilanti for $2.6 million. The buyer plans to undertake $10 million in renovations to build shared workspaces for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) companies. Plans call for free onsite parking, research and development wet labs, medical offices, a 160-seat auditorium, exterior courtyard, café, gym and food truck area. Formerly known as the Gary Owens Building, the asset spans 130,000 square feet and is located at 300 W. Michigan Ave. The renovated building is slated to open in the first quarter of 2023 and will serve as MI-HQ’s fourth location.
WOBURN, MASS. — Locally based firm Cabot, Cabot & Forbes has filed plans with the Planning Board of the City of Woburn, a northern suburb of Boston, to develop a 300,000-square-foot life sciences campus. Plans call for a 175,000-square-foot lab and office building and a 135,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Cushman & Wakefield has been tapped to lease the project. The developer expects to receive the necessary permits and approvals by the end of the summer.
WALTHAM, MASS. — Hobbs Brook Real Estate has delivered 225 Wyman, a 507,000-square-foot office and life sciences project located in the western Boston suburb of Waltham. The five-story building sits on a six-acre site and features 43,500 square feet of indoor amenity space, as well as outdoor event space. In addition, 225 Wyman offers an onsite parking garage with a covered walkway connector. The property was 96 percent leased at the time of its opening to tenants such as Seqirus, ElevateBio BaseCamp and Pegasystems.
PHILADELPHIA — Longfellow Real Estate Partners will undertake a $365 million expansion project at Pennovation Center, a life sciences development located across the Schuylkill River from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The university owns the 23-acre site on which the facility will be constructed. The initial, 65,000-square-foot lab opened last year, and the expansion will add 387,000 square feet of research and development space and 68,000 square feet of biomanufacturing space to the local supply. Architectural and engineering firm Jacobs is designing the project, construction of which is scheduled to begin next year, with completion slated for 2025.
BEDFORD, MASS. — Newmark has brokered the $132 million sale of One Patriots Park, a 143,553-square-foot life sciences complex in Bedford, a northwestern suburb of Boston. The seller, Jumbo Capital Inc., redeveloped the property in 2019 to support life sciences users. At the time of sale, four such tenants — Homology Medicines Inc., N2 Biomedical, Frontera Therapeutics and Obsidian Therapeutic — occupied the entirety of the facility. Robert Griffin, Edward Maher, Matthew Pullen and Samantha Hallowell of Newmark represented Jumbo Capital and procured the buyer, Barings, in the transaction.
WARREN, N.J. — PTC Therapeutics has signed a 360,000-square-foot life sciences lease at Warren Corporate Center in Northern New Jersey. Originally built as the headquarters campus for Lucent Technologies, the 176-acre Warren Corporate Center comprises five buildings totaling 820,000 square feet, and construction on the new facility for PTC Therapeutics will begin this month. Jeff Zell and Louis Kluger of JM Zell Partners represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Robert Donnelly Sr., Robert Donnelly Jr., Paul Giannone, Todd Elfand and Kevin Carton of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, a joint venture between Rubenstein Partners and Vision Real Estate Partners.
BOSTON — GI Partners has acquired 451 D Street, a state-of-the-art life sciences, data center and creative office building in Boston’s Seaport District. The price was not disclosed, but the seller, Related Fund Management, bought the asset for $276 million in 2018, according to reports by the Boston Business Journal. The nine-story, 479,000-square-foot building recently underwent two phases of lab conversion that total over half of the building’s rentable area. The property offers 536 parking spaces; a conference center; amenity center with a lounge, kitchen and games; an onsite cafe; bicycle storage; and a 3,000-square-foot fitness center. Current tenants include AT&T, J.P.Morgan, Silicon Therapeutics, Elektrofi, BT, Inozyme Pharma, Cellink, Stevanato Group Pharmaceutical Systems, Joyn Bio, Sensei Biotherapeutics, DermBoint and Dewpoint Therapeutics. Related will maintain a minority interest in the property and Related Beal will continue to serve as property manager. Eastdil Secured represented the seller in the transaction and placed debt financing for the new ownership group. “The Seaport has become a bona fide life sciences innovation hub and 451 D exemplifies our focus on serving the needs of small and medium-sized lab tenants through Class A reusable buildouts,” says John Sheputis, managing director at GI Partners and head of acquisitions for …
CHICAGO — Skender has completed construction of a two-story, 54,000-square-foot lab and office buildout for Hazel Technologies at 320 N. Sangamon St. in Chicago’s Fulton Market. Hazel is a USDA-funded technology company that develops solutions to extend the shelf life of fresh produce. The company is one of the first tenants to move into the new 13-story office building developed by Tishman Speyer and Mark Goodman & Associates. Hazel is moving from its current location at University Technology Park at Illinois Tech and plans to double its local workforce to approximately 100 employees this year. The buildout includes space for open research laboratory and lab support, 10,000 square feet of administrative and office space and 5,000 square feet of collaboration space. The project team included architect Perkins & Will, engineer Cosentini Associates and tenant representative CBRE.