AXA-Backed Firm Makes King’s Cross Office-To-Life Sciences Development Play
Kadans Science Partner has bought two properties in London's King’s Cross that will form part of a 230K SF portfolio of life sciences buildings in the area.
Kadans, which is backed by AXA IM - Real Assets, acquired an office building at 4 Brandon Road, just behind King’s Cross station, and a warehouse-style office building at 18-20 Tileyard Road, just around the corner.
The buildings will be knocked down and rebuilt as lab and office space targeting fast-growing SMEs, the company said. Combined with an existing 114K SF development the company is undertaking at 5-10 Brandon Road, the three buildings will give it 230K SF of dedicated life sciences space in the King’s Cross area.
The office at 4 Brandon Place was bought from a private investor, and it was up for sale for £14M. The building at 18-20 Tileyard Road was bought from Sterling RE and Argo.
King’s Cross is one of London’s hotspots for life sciences real estate given its proximity to universities like University College London, research facilities like the Francis Crick Institute and the Wellcome Trust, and companies like AstraZeneca.
Investors, including Life Science REIT, Stanhope and Mitsui Fudosan, are also buying and building in the area.
The acquisitions mean Kadans has a portfolio touching 1M SF in the UK capital. It is developing the largest multi-let life sciences building in Europe alongside Canary Wharf Group in Canary Wharf. The 750K SF tower will cost around £500M to build.
