NEW YORK CITY — The Feil Organization has negotiated a 24,814-square-foot life sciences lease at Seven Penn Plaza, a 411,000-square-foot building located adjacent to Madison Square Garden in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. The lease term is 10 years. David Turino handled lease negotiations on an internal basis for The Feil Organization, which owns and manages the building. Eva Shih of T3 Advisors represented the tenant, SOSV, a venture capital firm that runs the IndieBio development program for life sciences startups.
Life Sciences
Emerging Trends 2022 Report: Flexibility, Resilience to Drive Commercial Real Estate for Next Decade
by Jeff Shaw
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Flexibility, convenience and ultimately commercial real estate’s resilience will drive the industry over the next decade as owners respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2022, an annual report jointly produced by PwC US and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). The report includes proprietary data and insights from nearly 1,700 leading real estate industry experts, gathered both through in-person interviews and a survey. Consumer expectations of traditionally designed spaces have changed, and there will likely be a massive shift in the functionality of homes, offices, shopping centers and healthcare spaces, according to Washington, D.C.-based ULI. Property markets that were once predictable will likely remain in a bubble of uncertainty, but decision-making confidence has improved since last year, the report found. Three-quarters of respondents in the 2022 survey report feeling confident making those same long-term strategic decisions compared to less than half in the 2021 survey. Property investment is top of mind for institutional investors in both traditional and alternative sectors as risk remains low and interest rates stay attractive. Urban landscapes are facing change as new land uses and updated zoning allow markets to evolve. All these factors …
As COVID-19 took hold in early 2020, the Orlando retail market only saw a modest dip in fundamentals where metro-wide rental rates fell by 5 percent and occupancy dropped 100 basis points during the second and third quarters. Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020, rental and occupancy rates began an extraordinarily strong comeback, climbing 12 percent and 140 basis points, respectively, from the COVID-19 lows. According to data from CoStar Group, the metro’s average rental rate of $15.84 per square foot in the second quarter is more than 7 percent higher than the pre-pandemic peak. And occupancy rates are 40 basis point higher than the pre-COVID-19 peak, currently standing at 96.4 percent. With escalating land prices and shortages in raw materials and labor, we anticipate overall construction costs will continue to increase, stalling deliveries and further advancing rental and occupancy rates. Last year, some retail owners (sellers) and investors (buyers) focused on asset management within their portfolios and reevaluated the perceived investment risk due to the pandemic, which caused a sharp dropoff in 2020 investment activity, despite an abundance of capital available to invest. After a couple quarters of fundamentals bottoming out, owners and investors had confidence in their …
DURHAM, N.C. — JLL Income Property Trust has acquired 5 & 47 National Way, two life sciences properties located in Durham. The sales price was approximately $67 million. The seller was not disclosed. Built in 2020, the properties total 375,000 square feet and are fully leased to life sciences tenants, such as KBI BioPharma and Taysha Gene Therapies. The tenants have invested a combined $180 million in property upgrades that include laboratory, clean and cold rooms, specialized sanitation stations and specialized water and power upgrades, according to Allan Swaringen, president and CEO of JLL Income Property Trust. The properties are located adjacent to Research Triangle Park, the biggest scientific research park in the country. The weighted average lease term on the two properties is more than 14 years.
SKOKIE, ILL. — JLL Capital Markets has arranged the sale and financing of a two-building life sciences portfolio within The Illinois Science + Technology Park in Skokie, about 15 miles north of downtown Chicago. The portfolio spans 286,184 rentable square feet and is home to global life sciences brands and university-affiliated, venture-backed startups. Sam DiFrancesca, Patrick Shields, Jaime Fink, Jeffrey Bramson, Bruce Miller and Nick Psyllos of JLL represented the seller, American Landmark Properties, which acquired the buildings in 2016 and renovated them. The JLL team also procured the buyer, Chicago-based Singerman Real Estate. Danny Kaufman and Lucas Borges of JLL led financing efforts on behalf of the buyer. Max Zwolan and Scott Brandwein of JLL also supported the transaction and will continue to handle leasing for the new owner. The sales price and loan amount were not provided.
PHILADELPHIA — Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: IOVA) has opened a 136,000-square-foot life sciences facility at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where the biomanufacturing firm will produce T cell-based immunotherapies for cancer patients. Gattuso Development Partners developed the facility, which is located within an opportunity zone, and CRB provided design and construction services.
HOUSTON — A partnership between Chicago-based investment firm Harrison Street, 2ML Real Estate Interests and local developer Hines has broken ground on a 270,000-square-foot life sciences building in Houston. The building, which represents the first phase of the Levit Green mixed-use development, is located on a 53-acre site adjacent to Texas Medical Center. Additional uses at Levit Green will include retail, residential and office space. DE Harvey Builders is the general contractor for the project, which is slated for a fourth-quarter 2022 delivery. JLL is marketing the space for lease.
WATERTOWN, MASS. — Locally based developer Berkeley Investments will undertake a project to convert a building at 64 Pleasant St. in the western Boston suburb of Watertown into a 105,000-square-foot life sciences facility. The two-story building offers a conference room, rooftop deck, fitness center and outdoor gathering spaces. Berkeley will upgrade the property’s utility and mechanical systems, elevate the ceiling heights, introduce reinforced concrete floors and add lab space. SGA is the project architect. The development team hopes to complete core and shell construction by the end of next year. Newmark has been tapped to market the building for lease.
TAMPA, FLA. — Atlanta-based Cousins Properties has acquired Heights Union, a 294,000-square-foot office property in downtown Tampa, for $144.8 million. Atlanta-based TPA Group and Heights master developer SoHo Capital were the sellers, according to the Tampa Business Journal. Built in 2020, Heights Union features two six-story buildings with parking provided. The office property is currently 93.4 percent leased with life sciences users representing 66 percent of the rent roll. Pfizer leases 106,000 square feet for a Global Capability Hub, and Axogen leases 75,000 square feet for its second headquarters and lab space. Additionally, White & Case leases 40,000 square feet for a mission critical global operations center. The office property is located within The Heights neighborhood, which is a live-work-play district located near the 2.6-mile Tampa Riverwalk that runs alongside the Hillsborough River. The district is also anchored by Armature Works, an adaptive reuse project of the former Tampa streetcar facility that includes 73,000 square feet of mixed-use space and over 20 restaurants and bars.
LPC West, Invesco Buy 211,000 SF Cascadian Office Building in Seattle’s Life Sciences Corridor
by Amy Works
SEATTLE — LPC West and Invesco Real Estate have acquired Cascadian, a nine-story office building located in Seattle’s life sciences corridor. Located at the intersection of South Lake Union, Capitol Hill and the central business district, Cascadian features 211,000 rentable square feet and potential ground-floor retail. The buyers plan to convert the property into a life sciences space. The redeveloped property will also feature a 7,300-square-foot rooftop terrace, on-site parking and transit accessibility. Terms of the acquisition were not released.