Alexandria Doubles Down On Asset Sales, Megacampus Strategy Amid Biotech Headwinds With lab space availability increasing and economic uncertainties piling up, Alexandria Real Estate Equities is doubling down on its strategy to sell underperforming properties and plow the cash into its megacampuses, executives said during a third-quarter earnings call Tuesday. The macro environment is a challenging one that Chairman Joel Marcus described as a “de facto recession.” Beyond general economic strife, the life sciences real estate market is in the midst of a shift that has made things trickier for landlords like ARE. An April report from CBRE indicated total lab and research and development space across the U.S. would grow by 20% over the following two years, with a record-high volume of new construction underway. Alexandria Senior Vice President of Science and Technology Hallie Kuhn emphasized the company’s confidence in the science that drives the tenants at the core of the company’s success. The runaway success of obesity drugs, the incorporation of artificial intelligence and machine learning in drug discovery, the quickening rate of Food and Drug Administration approvals this year — 45 thus far, on track to beat the all-time record — and Big Pharma acquisitions suggest increased need for lab space. 
More than $400B will be spent on biotech this year between federal funding, venture capital and private funding. “We see demand holding steady today and believe it will trend upward,” CEO Peter Moglia said.But the real estate reality industrywide offers less optimism. The stock market has responded with a more negative… Read the full story here. | 
