Alexandria, MetLife, Norges Bank Recapitalize Kendall Square Lab And Office Assets For $1.2B
Two massive investors and a life sciences behemoth joined to recapitalize two Kendall Square life sciences assets for a whopping $1.2B.
Metlife Investment Management, an affiliate of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, and Norges Bank Investment Management formed a new joint venture to recapitalize 50 Binney St. and 60 Binney St., the firms announced Wednesday. The move marks another weighty investment by the three firms, which this past year have spent more than $2B combined in the Boston and Cambridge commercial real estate market.
"As life sciences real estate continues to experience heightened demand, we're excited to add highly coveted properties to our portfolio that were purpose-built to meet the shortage of suitable office and lab space,” Ashleigh Simpson, regional head of acquisitions and joint ventures at MIM, said in a statement.
A representative for Alexandria didn't respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
The properties are two 10-story office and lab buildings spanning 533K SF and are fully leased to life sciences and retail tenants. Alexandria, the prolific life sciences developer, built the properties in 2017. MIM acquired a 25% ownership interest, NBIM secured a 41% ownership and the Alexandria company kept its 34% stake.
MIM and NBIM in August spent a record $825M for the One Memorial Drive office tower in East Cambridge. That sale was the largest single-asset office transaction in the U.S. at the time, according to Oxford Properties Group and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, the previous owners of the 409K SF office tower that is home to tenants such as Microsoft.
Alexandria is no stranger to megadeals in the Boston market. In January, the life sciences developer invested $1.52B into 401 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Ave. projects by Samuels & Associates in the Fenway neighborhood. In June, the developer paid $815M for two Kendall Square offices sold for a 74% premium over their sales price just six months earlier.
Newmark co-Head of U.S. Capital Markets Robert Griffin, Vice Chairman Edward Maher, Executive Managing Director Matthew Pullen and Managing Director Samantha Hallowell of the firm’s Boston Capital Markets Group represented Alexandria and procured NBIM and MIM, while Newmark senior financial analyst William Sleeper provided financial analysis support.
