LIBERTYVILLE, ILL. — BWE has arranged a $20 million loan for the acquisition of Innovation Park, a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use office and research laboratory campus in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville. Originally constructed in the 1990s to serve as an R&D facility for the Motorola Corp., Innovation Park spans 83 acres. The property was 71 percent leased at the time of loan closing. Anchor tenants include Valent BioSciences, Medline Industries and Juno Therapeutics. Daniel Rosenberg, Chris Caroll, Logan Petersmeyer and Max Miller of BWE arranged the loan through a depository institution on behalf of the borrowers, a joint venture between Chicago-based developer R2 and Chicago-based JDI Realty. The five-year loan features multiple years of interest-only payments and structured flexibility.
GEORGETOWN AND ROUND ROCK, TEXAS — Baltimore-based St. John Properties has delivered a 45,600-square-foot life sciences building on the northern outskirts of Austin. The building is the first to be completed at Westinghouse Crossing, a 225,000-square-foot mixed-use development located at the southern border of Georgetown and the northern border of Round Rock. The 35-acre development will ultimately feature 170,000 square feet of research-and-development facilities, 40,000 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of retail space.
WOBURN, MASS. — Nanoramic Laboratories has signed a 40,000-square-foot office and life sciences lease in Woburn, a northern suburb of Boston. The developer of lithium ion batteries for the automotive and aerospace industries will relocate from nearby Wakefield to 10 Commerce Way, which is owned by Cummings Properties. David Thomann of Cushman & Wakefield represented the tenant in the lease negotiations. Rob Yacobian and John Halsey represented the landlord on an internal basis.
NORWOOD, MASS. — Hobbs Brook Real Estate has topped out a 320,000-square-foot office and life sciences project in Norwood, a southern suburb of Boston, that is a build-to-suit for commercial property insurance company FM Global. The project replaces a 1950s-era building with a four-story office, lab and research and development building and adds a new 930-space parking garage and outdoor amenity spaces. Payette is the project architect, and Shawmut Design & Construction is the general contractor. Completion is slated for 2026. Construction began earlier this year.
WALTHAM, MASS. — ZoomInfo (NASDAQ: ZI) has signed a 101,000-square-foot office and life sciences lease in Waltham, a western suburb of Boston. The business-to-business data and AI-powered sales platform is taking space at 404 Wyman Street, a 384,841-square-foot building that is part of a larger 2.2 million-square-foot development. CBRE represented the landlord, Hobbs Brook Real Estate, in the lease negotiations. Newmark represented ZoomInfo.
EVANSTON, ILL. — COUR Pharmaceuticals has signed a 50,000-square-foot lease at Evanston Labs in Evanston. The company is relocating its headquarters, R&D lab and pilot manufacturing plant to the recently delivered project. COUR, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies to treat patients with autoimmune diseases, will occupy space across the eighth and ninth floors. Located at the southwest corner of Orrington Avenue and Clark Street, Evanston Labs is an advanced sciences lab building rising 10 stories and totaling 178,800 square feet. Completed earlier this year by Trammell Crow Co. (TCC), the development features a penthouse amenity center, outdoor terrace and health and wellness center.
ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA), via the Georgia State Properties Commission, has signed an 11,129-square-foot lease at Science Square Labs in Atlanta. The 13-story, 368,258-square-foot life sciences building is an anchor of Georgia Tech’s Science Square innovation district, a mixed-use development that spans 18 acres near campus and will include retail space and The Grace Residences apartment tower. Trammell Crow Co. delivered Science Square Labs, the first speculative life sciences building in the city’s history, in April 2024. The GDA will occupy pre-built lab and office space on the building’s 11th floor. Eric Ross, Jessica Doyle and Graham Little of CBRE represented the landlord in the lease negotiations, while Erik Weiss and Kari Downing with Savills represented the tenant. The organization joins national life sciences incubator Portal Innovations, which leased 33,000 square feet at Science Square Labs this past summer.
AMBLER, PA. — Stream Realty Partners has negotiated a 47,194-square-foot life sciences lease in Ambler, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. The space is located within Building 14B of Spring House Innovation Park, an office and life sciences campus that consists of 11 buildings totaling 600,000 square feet on 133 acres. Zach Leger of Stream represented the tenant, Nucleus Radiopharma Inc., in the lease negotiations. Matthew Knowles, Paul Touhey and Cody Lehrer of CBRE represented the undisclosed landlord.
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Emerging Trends Report Predicts Rebound in Transaction Volume in 2025 as Capital Markets Are ‘Poised for Recovery’
LAS VEGAS — At the September meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate by 50 basis points, which is the first easing of monetary policy in four years. This move lowered the short-term interest rate to a target range of 4.75 to 5 percent. Elevated borrowing costs have stifled commercial real estate transaction volumes the past couple years as buyers and sellers found that values were a moving target. Now with a reduction in interest rates, many real estate professionals expect transaction volume to rebound at least moderately. “In 2025, we expect lower interest rates will reduce borrowing costs, aid in price discovery and ultimately encourage an uptick in [commercial real estate] transactions,” said Angela Cain, global CEO of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). Cain’s comments came in a prepared statement to summarize the findings of Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2025, an annual report jointly produced by PwC US and ULI. The report was published in conjunction with ULI’s Fall Meeting, which is taking place this week at Resort World Las Vegas. Cain said that the real estate professionals surveyed for the report relayed that sentiment is improving, though many remain cautious. …
MINNEAPOLIS — A partnership between locally based developer Mortenson and The University of Minnesota Foundation Real Estate Advisors (UMFREA) is in the planning stages of a 12-acre mixed-use village on the eastern edge of the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus. The project, which will span 3 million square feet, is named The Minnesota Innovation Exchange, or “The MIX.” Located in Minneapolis, the development site is bounded to the north by the school’s Biomedical Discovery District and the football stadium, Huntington Bank Stadium. The MIX is bounded to the south by the university’s future clinical campus expansion. Mortensen and UMFREA, which oversees the real estate decisions of the University of Minnesota Foundation, recently selected commercial real estate services giant CBRE to lease The MIX. At full build-out, the private development will include research-and-development space, creative offices, hotel rooms, apartments, shops and restaurants. The project team, which includes architectural firm HGA, hopes to attract life sciences users to The MIX to capitalize on the Twin Cities’ reputation as a hub for health and science activity, including a concentration of medical device manufacturers headlined by Medtronic and 3M. “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for prospective tenants to participate in the most unique …