Regions Northeast | Boston
Nov 27, 2007
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor
A joint venture involving Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., Charles River Realty Investors and National Development has closed on the acquisition of a coveted 1.1-acre parcel in Boston from the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center. The partners plan to construct a 350,000-square-foot life science research building on the land.
The joint venture's state-of-the-art research facility will be located at the intersection of Longwood and Brookline Avenues in the Longwood Medical Area, a 200-acre enclave of hospitals, biomedical research centers and educational institutions about three miles outside of downtown Boston. Joslin, the largest diabetes research center in the world, received development rights for the site from the Boston Redevelopment Authority in 2003. The organization worked on a potential development plan with Boston Properties in 2006, but at the close of the year both parties opted not to proceed. Plans to develop the property independently had also been considered, but were scrapped.
"Our new president and CEO, Ranch Kimball, joined us in February and he assessed our real estate holdings and decided it was in our best interest not to try to be developers," a Joslin spokesperson told CPN today. Instead, Joslin issued a Request for Proposals in April of this year and signed an agreement with the joint venture in July.
Alexandria Real Estate, Charles River and National Development plan to commence construction of the new facility next year. The parcel is currently home to the 9,000-square-foot Ullian Building, featuring office and ground-level retail space, as well as an apartment structure and surface parking space, all of which will be demolished. Upon the project's completion, Joslin will have the option of either leasing or buying a portion of the building, leaving the remaining space available for lease to other life science-related entities. Rental rates for such space in the tight LMA submarket can go as high as $85 per-square-foot, triple net, as per real estate services firm Colliers International's 2007 report on real estate trends in the life science industry.
In response to high demand, a bevy of life science projects are in the works in Boston where, at the close of 2006, about 2.5 million square feet of commercial lab space existed and the vacancy rate was 4.1 percent, according to the Colliers report. Most of that space sits in three submarkets, including LMA, which is quickly reaching its maximum capacity for development.
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor
A joint venture involving Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., Charles River Realty Investors and National Development has closed on the acquisition of a coveted 1.1-acre parcel in Boston from the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center. The partners plan to construct a 350,000-square-foot life science research building on the land. The joint venture's state-of-the-art research facility will be located at the intersection of Longwood and Brookline Avenues in the Longwood Medical Area, a 200-acre enclave of hospitals, biomedical research centers and educational institutions about three miles outside of downtown Boston. Joslin, the largest diabetes research center in the world, received development rights for the site from the Boston Redevelopment Authority in 2003. The organization worked on a potential development plan with Boston Properties in 2006, but at the close of the year both parties opted not to proceed. Plans to develop the property independently had also been considered, but were scrapped.
"Our new president and CEO, Ranch Kimball, joined us in February and he assessed our real estate holdings and decided it was in our best interest not to try to be developers," a Joslin spokesperson told CPN today. Instead, Joslin issued a Request for Proposals in April of this year and signed an agreement with the joint venture in July.
Alexandria Real Estate, Charles River and National Development plan to commence construction of the new facility next year. The parcel is currently home to the 9,000-square-foot Ullian Building, featuring office and ground-level retail space, as well as an apartment structure and surface parking space, all of which will be demolished. Upon the project's completion, Joslin will have the option of either leasing or buying a portion of the building, leaving the remaining space available for lease to other life science-related entities. Rental rates for such space in the tight LMA submarket can go as high as $85 per-square-foot, triple net, as per real estate services firm Colliers International's 2007 report on real estate trends in the life science industry.
In response to high demand, a bevy of life science projects are in the works in Boston where, at the close of 2006, about 2.5 million square feet of commercial lab space existed and the vacancy rate was 4.1 percent, according to the Colliers report. Most of that space sits in three submarkets, including LMA, which is quickly reaching its maximum capacity for development.
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