BOSTON — Locally based developer King Street Properties has broken ground on 101 Cambridgepark, a $170 million life sciences project located in the Cambridge area of Boston. King Street is partnering with California-based Healthpeak Properties on the 160,000-square-foot project, which will feature both traditional office and laboratory space within a five-story building. The property will also include 3,000 square feet of street-level retail space with outdoor seating. Completion is slated for the third quarter of 2022. Newmark is leasing the project.
Life Sciences
WALTHAM, MASS. — General contractor Gilbane Building Co. has topped out 225 Wyman Street, a 500,000-square-foot life sciences project in the western Boston suburb of Waltham. Designed by Gensler, the property will offer space for both laboratory/research and development users as well as traditional office users. Amenities will include green space with walking trails, a three-acre courtyard, fitness center, conference center, dining facility and a 1,500-space covered parking garage with electric vehicle charging stations. Hobbs Brook Management LLC is the developer of the project, which is expected to be complete in March 2022.
By Brendan Carroll, research director, Cushman & Wakefield Through the first three quarters of 2020, the Boston life sciences market is seeing record occupancy, a continuation of large new-building leases, stable rents at record levels, high levels of pre-committed new construction and an insatiable appetite for inventory in new submarket clusters. Cushman & Wakefield defines laboratory properties as facilities optimized for the physical scientific research of biotechnology products. COVID-19’s Impact Following a pause of leasing activity in the first quarter of 2020, lease negotiations for laboratory facilities resumed quickly in the second quarter, hitting a level that commercial office properties have still yet to see. While optimism quickly returned for the region’s office-using businesses, widespread execution of remote office-using job functions has proven to be more effective for many of these workforces than market leaders previously envisioned. The consensus among real estate observers suggests a long-term decrease in the percent of in-office workers for traditional office-using functions. However, the importance of the continued use of physical spaces for biotechnology research will not be affected, as this function cannot be accommodated through current and easily envisioned remote work practices. These are highly specialized jobs performed by employees with highly targeted skill …
NEW YORK CITY — Taconic Partners and Nuveen Real Estate have unveiled plans to redevelop 125 West End Avenue into a life sciences and research building. Broadcaster ABC has occupied the property as part of its New York City headquarters since 1985 but plans to vacate in January 2021. Chrysler originally constructed the eight-story, 400,000-square-foot property in 1929 as an automotive facility. The New York Times is also a former owner and tenant. The building features floorplates of more than 50,000 square feet, ceiling heights ranging from 13 to 16 feet, multiple access points and views of the Hudson River. Taconic and Nuveen purchased the property in late 2019 for $230 million. Plans call for a mechanical plant, purpose-built lab infrastructure, a new façade, roof terrace and conference center. The developers are still evaluating options for the remainder of the site, which includes a six-story, 131,000-square-foot television studio building and a 1.2-acre development parcel. Construction is slated for completion in 2023. The project team includes architect Perkins+Will and engineer JB&B. The development will feature several environmental sustainability features and is on track to achieve LEED Gold certification. Estimated development costs were not disclosed, though LoanCore Capital did provide a $181 …
SAN FRANCISCO — Chicago-based REIT Ventas Inc. (NYSE: VTR), through its Life Sciences and Healthcare Real Estate Fund, has acquired an 800,000-square-foot life sciences campus in San Francisco for roughly $1 billion. The San Francisco Business Journal reports that the property is the Genesis South office and life sciences hub, which consists of two office and lab buildings totaling roughly 720,000 square feet, as well as a 72,000-square-foot building. The Class A campus is located on the city’s south side and consists of three newly built or renovated buildings. The campus was 96 percent leased at the time of sale with a weighted average lease term of more than six years. The property is purpose-built for advanced research functions and is predominantly features lab space supporting biotechnology and other life sciences research. Nearly half of the tenant roster consists of publicly traded companies with market capitalizations of $10 billion or higher that are backed by venture capital or private equity firms. The price represents a capitalization rate of approximately 5 percent. The seller was a partnership between Boston-based Bain Capital and San Diego-based Phase 3, according to IPE Real Assets, which provides global intelligence for institutional real estate investment. In …
LEXINGTON, MASS. — Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. has received approvals to move forward with the development of a 200,000-square-foot life sciences project at 91 Hartwell Ave. in the Boston metro of Lexington. Designed by Boston-based architecture firm DiMella Shaffer, the property will consist of 95,000 square feet of lab space, 125,000 square feet of office space and a 502-space parking structure. The development team also includes Paul Finger Associates, LEC Environmental and Nitsch Engineering.
WARREN, N.J. — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) has negotiated the sale of a 181,210-square-foot life sciences facility in Warren that is fully leased to Celgene/Bristol Myers Squibb. Kevin Welsh, Brian Schulz, Jason Emrani, Steven Schultz and Dan Reider of NKF represented the seller, a joint venture between Ivy Realty and Waterfall Asset Management, in the transaction. The team also procured the buyer, Thor Equities. The property recently underwent a value-add program that included a new roof and HVAC upgrades.
BURLINGTON, MASS. — Azzur Group, a firm that helps life sciences companies start and scale, has signed a 50,300-square-foot office lease in Burlington, located north of Boston. Azzur Group plans to take occupancy of its space at 60 Blanchard Road by summer 2021. Newmark Knight Frank represented the building owner, a partnership between locally based development and investment firm Nordblom Co. and Alcion Ventures, in the lease negotiations. The Stevens Group represented the tenant.
BOSTON — McCord Development, the firm behind the 4,200-acre Generation Park master-planned community in Houston, has opened a Boston office and acquired a 64,736-square-foot life sciences building. The property is located west of the city at 30 Bearfoot Road in Northborough and was formerly occupied by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. The seller was Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
NEW YORK CITY — Volastra Therapeutics, a biotechnology firm focused on treating cancer, has signed an 11,000-square-foot life sciences lease at the Mink Building in West Harlem. The space is located within the Manhattanville Factory District, a 1.1 million-square-foot office and life sciences campus. New York City-based Janus Property Co. owns the building.