Alexandria Real Estate Looks For A Future Not Centered Around Boston
More than 22% of Alexandria Real Estate's 28M SF asset base is in Greater Boston. Now, the company is looking to have a portfolio not so dominated by the New England region, the Boston Business Journal reports.
Alexandria Real Estate has been an important part of local development, and vice versa. Mizuho Securities analyst Rich Anderson said the company’s dominance in the Boston and San Francisco markets has created a geographic concentration risk. He proposed breaking up the Cambridge and Bay Area holdings, or boosting Alexandria's presence in smaller markets.
Alexandria CEO Joel Marcus said his company has a five-year plan that, beginning next year, would address those concerns.
“As we look out in 2022, I don’t want to reveal what the numbers are,” Marcus said. "But it’s pretty clear that the Greater Boston market will not be as dominant in our asset base as it is today."
Instead, Alexandria sees growth from cities like San Diego, Seattle and New York. San Francisco remained on the list for further growth.
Alexandria has built a 6.3M SF Greater Boston empire of real estate largely focused in Kendall Square, but it is not taking part in two of the neighborhood’s biggest upcoming projects. Alexandria reportedly bid on the 14-acre Volpe Center site in the neighborhood, but lost to MIT. DivcoWest is in charge of the nearby 42-acre North Point complex where 4.5M SF of development could come.
Alexandria could still take on local projects at 303 Binney St. in Cambridge and 266 and 275 Second Ave. in Waltham.
