Boston Properties, Biogen and Broad Institute strike deals in the Kendall Square area
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Three of the biggest names in the Boston/Cambridge life sciences real estate (LSRE) market disclosed Tuesday (Sept. 20) that they are reshuffling the ownership and occupancy of two landmark properties in the life sciences-rich Kendall Square district.
■ 125 Broadway. Boston Properties Inc. (NYSE: BXP) announced Tuesday that it has acquired 125 Broadway, a six-story, 271,000 square foot laboratory/life sciences property, from biopharma giant Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) for about $592 million. Through the sale-leaseback transaction, Biogen will continue to occupy the entire building through April 2028. Boston-based BXP said in a news release that it funded the purchase with cash and borrowings under its line of credit, “and it is evaluating opportunities to own the property with one or more joint venture equity partners.”
■ 300 Binney. At the same time, Cambridge-based Biogen terminated its existing lease at BXP’s 300 Binney St., an adjacent six-story, 195,000 square foot property. The move will clear the way for BXP to complete a full renovation and roughly 45,000 square foot expansion of the building, which it developed in 2013. The upgrade will provide a LEED Gold-certified, “state-of-the-art” biomedical research facility for a new tenant: The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a biomedical and genomic research center, which has signed a 15-year lease.
“We are thrilled to complete this acquisition and continue our longstanding relationship with Biogen,” Bryan Koop, BXP’s executive VP, Boston Region, said of the 125 Broadway transaction. “BXP has been an integral member of the Cambridge community since the development of our first property in 1981, and we are pleased to continue to grow and evolve Kendall Center to meet the needs of the life sciences community.”
In August, after what The Boston Globe described as the “disastrous” rollout of its Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, Biogen listed more than 183,500 square feet of office space for sub-lease at 300 Binney, as well 80,000 square feet at 133 Boston Post Road in Weston, Mass., about 15 miles west of downtown Boston. The firm, which previously said it plans to lay off up to 1,000 employees, has been taking steps to cut an estimated $1 billion in costs.
Biogen, which currently occupies five buildings in Cambridge, is headquartered in a six-story, 325,000 square foot facility at 225 Binney St.
Conceptual rendering of 300 Binney St., Cambridge, post-renovation. Courtesy of HGA and BXP. This design has not been approved and is subject to change. (By Broad Communications)
As for the Broad Institute, its 225,000 square foot lease of the revamped 300 Binney building will bring its presence in the “internationally-recognized innovation district of Kendall Square” to nearly 1 million square feet of lab and office space. The move is part of a long-term facilities plan “allowing Broad to support the continuing growth of its faculty labs, research programs, and technology platforms led by professional scientists,” the institute said in a news release Tuesday.
“Across nearly two decades, Broad Institute has been a space that brings together the most creative scientists of this generation to collaborate and spark new ideas that drive discovery,” Todd Golub, director of the Broad Institute and a founding core institute member, said in the organization’s news release. “With this additional space, our scientists will have the flexibility to take advantage of bold new opportunities and continue to work with our hospital and university partners to transform human health. Alongside our facilities in the Merkin and Stanley Buildings in Kendall Square, this next-generation scientific facility will enable Broad to deepen our commitment to understanding and treating disease.”
Broad current employs more than 2,000 scientists and administrative staff, and occupies four primary buildings in Kendall Square:
■ its headquarters, the Richard N. Merkin Building, 415 Main St.;
■ the Ted and Vada Stanley Building, 75 Ames St.;
■ the Genomics Platform, 320 Charles St.; and
■ leased office space at 105 Broadway.
BXP says it will complete the renovation of 300 Binney by late 2024 and Broad Institute says it will move in in early 2025.
Broad is also completing a separate construction project: the launch of the public Broad Discovery Center on the ground floor of the Merkin Building at 415 Main St. in Cambridge. Opening in October, 2022, the Discovery Center “will be an active, public, educational space that showcases how researchers in Kendall Square and around the world are seeking to understand and treat human disease,” Broad says.
News Release: BXP Expands Life Sciences Portfolio in Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA
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