Biopharma Firm Leases 61K SF At Hood Park Dairy Plant Redevelopment
A Somerville-based biopharmaceutical company will lease 61K SF in Charlestown at the massive redevelopment of the former HP Hood dairy plant.
Finch Therapeutics, which develops microbiome medicines, will move into 100 Hood Park Drive at the beginning of 2022 for a 10-year term, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company, currently developing an ulcerative colitis treatment, has agreed to occupy part of Catamount Management Corp.'s 20-acre, 1.8M SF office, lab and residential campus.
"We are looking forward to opening a second location at Hood Park in Charlestown that will significantly expand our office and laboratory space to accommodate our growing team and pipeline of investigational microbiome therapeutics," a spokesperson for Finch said in a statement.
A representative for Newmark, the listed leasing agent for the campus, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Catamount is the manager listed for the owner, Hood Park LLC, and a representative was unavailable for comment. Finch, in the SEC filing, said it would disclose the full lease with its next quarterly filing.
Finch has agreed to pay $4.5M in rent, or approximately $73 per SF in its first year, which will escalate 2.8% annually to $5.8M, or $95 per SF in the lease’s final year, according to the filing. The lease agreement includes a five-year extension option and $14.8M in tenant improvement allowances. The company will also have the right to lease additional space at two other existing Hood Park labs, the 360K SF 500 Rutherford Ave. and the 32K SF 510 Rutherford Ave., according to the filing.
The Boston Planning and Development Agency in 2019 approved updates to the Hood Park Master Plan, which entail constructing seven new buildings near Interstate 93 and the Sullivan Square Orange Line Station. Hood Park already includes a completed 180-unit residential complex next to 100 Hood Park Drive. A 365K SF office and laboratory tower at the adjacent 10 Stack St. is due to be completed in 2023.
In March, fuel cell developer Advent Technologies signed an eight-year lease for 21K SF of new space at Hood Park, a month after leasing 6K SF for the firm’s headquarters at Boston Properties’ 200 Clarendon St. Charlestown is percolating with development, as Related last month pitched a laboratory at its newly purchased 420 Rutherford Ave. property near Hood Park.
UPDATE, AUG. 11, 12:40 P.M. ET: This story has been updated with a statement from Finch Therapeutics.
