PHILADELPHIA — A joint venture between Chicago-based developers Sterling Bay and Harrison Street, as well as New York City-based Botanic Properties, will develop a 310,000-square-foot life sciences facility in Philadelphia’s University City neighborhood. The 13-story building will be situated on a 33,400-square-foot parcel at 3801 Chestnut St. The facility will house lab space to accommodate cell and gene therapy users. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2023 and to be complete in mid-2025.
CARLSBAD, CALIF. — Luminous Capital Management, in partnership with Austin, Texas-based Virtus Real Estate Capital, has acquired 2290 Cosmos Court, an industrial/R&D building in Carlsbad. Los Angeles-based Excelsior Partners sold the asset for $9.5 million, or $255 per square foot. The 37,300-square-foot building was vacant at the time of sale. Previously, ViaSat utilized the property for its global communications operations. The buyers plan to renovate the property the property for bioscience research and development, including the build out of wet lab and support space. The property features heavy power, ground-level loading and abundant parking. Completion of the planned upgrades is slated for early 2023. Virtus provided joint venture equity for the renovation and repositioning of the property. Rusty Williams, Chris Roth and Jake Rubendall of Lee & Associates represented the seller in the deal. John Chun and John Marshall of JLL arranged the equity joint venture between Luminous and Virtus. California Bank & Trust provided financing for the acquisition and conversion.
PHILADELPHIA — Los Angeles-based PCCP LLC has provided a $500 million loan to fund the redevelopment of the former PES oil refinery in South Philadelphia into a 15 million-square-foot logistics and life sciences campus that will be known as The Bellwether District. The borrower, a joint venture led by Hilco Redevelopment Partners, acquired the 1,300-acre property in 2020 out of bankruptcy. The transformation of the site includes the decommissioning of the refinery and significant demolition and remediation work, including the abatement of roughly 30,000 tons of asbestos. Redevelopment efforts initially commenced in June 2020. Site work and vertical construction are expected to commence this year, with the first tenants expected to occupy buildings in 2023.
COPPELL, TEXAS — Nashville-based medical consulting firm PathGroup has signed a 126,596-square-foot lease to occupy the entirety of 121 Corporate Center, an office and laboratory building in Coppell, located near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Dean Collins, Mark Collins, Jason Dodson, Michael Sessa and Jack Keenan of Cushman & Wakefield represented PathGroup in the lease negotiations. Nathan Durham and Duane Henley of Newmark represented the landlord, a partnership between Blackstone and Link Logistics Real Estate.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Newmark has arranged the $815 million sale of Charles Park, a two-building office complex and parking garage in Cambridge. The Davis Cos. and Principal Real Estate Investors sold the asset to an affiliate of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (NYSE: ARE). Charles Park spans 408,259 square feet and consists of two Class A office buildings, One Rogers Street and One Charles Park. The property also includes a 656-space, seven-level parking garage. Alexandria plans to redevelop the two buildings into life sciences space, but further details of that project were not provided. Situated near Charles Park is the nearly 1 million-square-foot CambridgeSide complex, which is undergoing a residential and retail development. Charles Park is also located near two Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) subway stations, the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the new Cambridge Crossing mixed-use development and Massachusetts General Hospital. “Charles Park is well positioned along Kendall Square’s rapidly expanding First Street corridor with immediately recognizable architecture highlighted by its distinctive horseshoe-shaped façade,” says Edward Maher, vice chairman with Newmark. “The asset is further surrounded by an unmatched laboratory and technology mecca in the life sciences epicenter of the world.” Maher, along with Robert Griffin, …
ST. LOUIS — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of EDGE@BRDG in St. Louis for $92 million. The 151,829-square-foot life sciences building is fully leased and serves as the headquarters of Benson Hill Biosystems, a food technology company. Completed in 2020, the property features office and lab space as well as a test kitchen, sterilization station and walk-in refrigeration units. The building is located at 1001 N. Warson Road within 39 North, a 600-acre district anchored by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Michael Hanrahan, Josh McGee and Josh King of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Larson Capital Management. Chicago-based Harrison Street Real Estate Capital was the buyer.
MORRISVILLE, N.C. — A joint venture between Starwood Capital Group and Trinity Capital Advisors has announced plans to develop Spark LS, a $1 billion life sciences campus located within North Carolina’s Research Triangle in Morrisville. The 109-acre development will be located at the intersection of McCrimmon Parkway and Airport Boulevard, four miles from Raleigh-Durham Airport and five miles from Apple’s new $1 billion office campus. The 1.5 million-square-foot project is set to include 12 to 15 buildings with lab and bio-manufacturing space, green spaces, restaurants, retail, a STEM education and amenity center, and several multi-use outdoor recreation areas. “We’re excited to continue investing in the Raleigh life sciences market, one of the top clusters in the country,” says Mark Keatley, managing director at Starwood Capital. “The Raleigh life sciences market benefits from record levels of public- and private-sector funding, which is driving increasing demand for high-quality lab and bio-manufacturing space.” Architectural firm Hanbury has been tapped to design the campus, with Doug Cook and Suzanna Nichols of Cushman & Wakefield heading up leasing efforts for the project. A timeline for the development was not announced. Starwood and Trinity have acquired or developed 5.1 million square feet of office and life …
LEXINGTON, MASS. — Greatland Realty Partners has topped off Revolution Labs, a 180,000-square-foot life sciences project located in the northwestern Boston suburb of Lexington. Greatland is developing the project in partnership with Singerman Real Estate. SGA is the project architect, and Callahan Construction Managers is the general contractor. The development team began construction in late April 2021 and expects the building to be available for occupancy in the fourth quarter. The project also includes the development of a 442-space parking garage.
FREMONT, CALIF. — Square Mile Capital Management has originated a $73.9 million loan secured by Ardenwood Life Science Park, a Class A life sciences and office campus in Fremont. Square Mile Capital provided the acquisition financing to a joint venture between Invesco Real Estate and Lincoln Property Company West. Eastdil Secured’s San Francisco office arranged the financing. Originally developed in 2001, the property underwent a comprehensive renovation for lab and office use in 2006. Affiliates of Tyco Electronics Corp. fully occupy the 186,000-square-foot, two-building campus.
SOMERVILLE, MASS. — A partnership between Leggat McCall Properties, DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners and Deutsche Finance America (DFA) has received $246 million in construction financing for 808 Windsor, a life sciences development located roughly four miles outside Boston in Somerville. Brett Paulsrud and Henry Schaffer of JLL Capital Markets secured the five-year loan through Bank OZK. 808 Windsor will be positioned adjacent to the newly developed Union Square MBTA Green Line Station within Boynton Yards, a master-planned development that is set to span up to 1.35 million square feet. The 11-story property will include 346,000 square feet of state-of-the-art lab space, 7,000 square feet of retail and 242 below-grade parking spaces. A timeline for the development was not announced. Boston remains a top life sciences market in the U.S., with recently announced projects including the conversion of a 105,000-square-foot building in suburban Boston and the conversion of a 102,727-square-foot office building in Boston’s Seaport District into life sciences space, among others. Leggat McCall Properties is an owner, developer and service provider for corporate, educational and healthcare properties across the greater Boston area. The company has developed over 42 million square feet of projects over the past 10 years. …