PHILADELPHIA — A partnership between locally based REIT Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) and the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) will develop a 50,000-square-foot life sciences project in Philadelphia. The property will be located adjacent to Brandywine’s Schuylkill Yards mixed-use development in the University City area. Construction is scheduled to begin immediately and to be complete in the fourth quarter.
WALTHAM, MASS. — Design firm Bergmeyer and construction management firm J. Calnan & Associates (JC&A) have completed a 180,000-square-foot life sciences redevelopment project in the western Boston suburb of Waltham. The property, which features traditional office and lab space, will serve as the new headquarters for robotics firm Boston Dynamics. Amenities include kitchens and a fitness center, as well as mothers’ and quiet rooms.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. — Healthpeak Properties will commence construction on Nexus on Grand, a life sciences development located at 233 E. Grand Ave. in South San Francisco. The Class A development will consist of a five-story, 141,000-square-foot building and an adjacent parking structure. The purpose-built lab building will feature modern design, prominent location on East Grand Avenue, flexible and efficient floor plates and lab-ready building systems that will accommodate a number of life sciences users. Nexus on Grand will be Healthpeak’s third ground-up development in the San Francisco market since 2015, following the leasing of The Cove at Oyster Point and The Shore at Sierra Point.
NEW YORK — JLL Capital Markets has arranged $393 million in construction financing for a project that will convert a 399,029-square-foot office building at ABC/Disney’s former headquarters building in Manhattan into a life sciences facility with purpose-built research and lab space. The borrower, a partnership controlled by New York City-based developer Taconic Partners and investment firm Nuveen Real Estate, purchased the building at 125 West End Ave. in 2019 for $230 million. With the vacating of the property by its primary tenant, which operated out of the building from 1985 until its lease expired in January of this year, the partnership is set to begin construction. The senior lender on the four-year, floating-rate financing package was a fund backed by Apollo Global Management, while Oaktree Capital Finance also provided mezzanine debt for the project. Evan Pariser and Geoff Goldstein of JLL placed the financing. The 125 West End Ave. building is located less than a quarter-mile from Lincoln Square and is close to the 1, 2 and 3 subway lines as well as West Side Highway. Additionally, the project is situated just 18 miles from the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. The existing building’s specs allow …
BOSTON — A partnership between Lendlease and Ivanhoe Cambridge has acquired land at 60 Guest St. within Boston Landing, a mixed-use destination in the Allston/Brighton area, for the development of a 320,000-square-foot life sciences building. The parcel sold for $67 million. The project will be situated on 1.1 acres, rise nine stories and offer traditional office space in addition to lab and research/development space. SGA Architects is designing the building, construction of which is targeted to begin in June 2022. Coleman Benedict and Kerry Hawkins of JLL represented the seller of the land, NB Development Group, and procured the partnership as the buyer.
HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. — Crescent Communities will develop a three-building life sciences campus within Oakview Innovation Park in the Raleigh-Durham market of Holly Springs. The property will be situated at the intersection of Green Oaks Parkway and Holly Springs New Hill Road. Crescent Communities worked with the Town of Holly Springs and Trustwell Property Group to co-develop the life sciences campus. The campus, which is located near Seqirus’ North American campus and adjacent to the Holly Springs Business Park, will feature three buildings spanning over 255,000 square feet on approximately 25 acres. Two of the development’s buildings will be constructed to meet biomanufacturing specifications, with each one offering over 100,000 square feet and the ability to accommodate single or multi-tenant needs. The third facility will be a two-story office building designed for smaller office users or expanding ones. Crescent Communities aims to start construction later this summer, with the first building’s delivery expected in summer 2022. The design team includes Timmons Group, O’Brien Atkins Associates and Gilbane . Crescent Communities is a Charlotte-based real estate investor, developer and operator of mixed-use communities.
NEW YORK CITY — Locally based developer The Georgetown Co. has signed leases with two tenants to its 200,000-square-foot life sciences project at 787 11th Ave. on Manhattan’s Far West Side. The property is now fully preleased. Healthcare provider Mount Sinai signed a long-term lease for 165,000 square feet, and scientist and designer Neri Oxman inked a deal to operate a 36,000-square-foot space. The property houses space for lab, office, research and biomedical uses.
NORTHBOROUGH, MASS. — A joint venture between Connecticut-based Wheelock Street Capital and Camber Development has purchased Sanofi Genzyme’s Northborough Global Operations Center, a 212,000-square-foot life sciences building in Northborough, located outside of Worcester. The sales price was $33 million. The property is situated on a 19.3-acre site and was fully leased at the time of sale. Coleman Benedict, Matthew Sherry, Ben Sayles, Michael Restivo and Corbin Stall of JLL represented the buyer in the deal. The seller was Chicago-based Capri EGM.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — JLL Income Property Trust has acquired 170 Park Avenue, a 147,000-square-foot life sciences building in the Northern New Jersey city of Florham Park. The sales price was approximately $47 million. The property is net leased on a long-term basis to biotechnology firm Celularity Inc. Jeffrey Dunne, Jeremy Neuer, Steve Bardsley, David Gavin, Gene Pride, Travis Langer, Zach McHale and Tom Sullivan of CBRE represented the undisclosed institutional seller. With this acquisition, JLL Income Property Trust now owns five life sciences properties totaling more than 450,000 square feet that are valued in excess of $215 million.
DURHAM, N.C. — Trinity Capital Advisors and SLI Capital have topped out a new Class A office project in downtown Durham called The Roxboro at Venable. The eight-story office and life sciences center is located within the mixed-use Venable Center at 380 East Pettigrew St. Duda|Paine Architects is the designer for the 210,000-square-foot project, which is expected to be opened by 2022. The Roxboro at Venable will feature tall floor-to-floor heights, built-in accommodation for lab infrastructure and dedicated back-up power. The property also will include touchless entry and elevator systems, air purification systems in elevators and open-air sky terraces on the two upper floors. The Roxboro previously was a warehouse for Venable Tobacco Co., a subsidiary of the Dibrell Brothers tobacco business of Danville, Va. Trinity Capital Advisors is a real estate development and investment firm with offices in Charlotte and Raleigh. SLI Capital is a Raleigh-based real estate investment firm.