Life Sciences Firm Inks 116K SF Lease To Expand Maryland Footprint
A Bethesda-based life sciences company is expanding its office and laboratory space along the I-270 life sciences corridor.
Clinical research and development company Precision for Medicine signed a renewal and expansion at St. John Properties’ Riverside Tech Park in Frederick, where the company and its predecessors have had a footprint since 2006.
Precision for Medicine has 75K SF at the park, but it is set to take another 41K SF in the expansion deal, St. John Properties announced Monday. The expansion space will open at 8440 Broadband Drive, one of two new buildings totaling 103K SF that St. John delivered in January.
“Precision’s mission to accelerate clinical R&D through the combined power of trials, labs, and data science is of great importance to global health and Frederick’s life science cluster,” Frederick Economic Development Director Richard Griffin said in the announcement. “Both Precision and St. John Properties have delivered critical business investment, tax base, and jobs here in the City.”
St. John is in the process of more construction in the business park, which by the fall is set to be completed and total 14 buildings with 750K SF. Riverside Tech Park is 96% occupied in its delivered space.
“Our Frederick-area portfolio is experiencing tremendous momentum, and we continue to speculatively construct best-in-class buildings to meet the sustained demand for our signature flex/R&D asset class,” Matt Holbrook, St. John Properties regional partner for Virginia and central Maryland, said in a statement.
“The combination of exceptional research facilities, targeted sources of financial investment, and an unprecedented and highly-educated workforce will assure the continuation of this activity in the life science industry for the foreseeable future,” he added.
Across the country, leasing and development of life sciences properties has slowed since the pandemic boom, when a wave of capital flowed into the industry. While suburban Maryland, one of the top life sciences markets in the country, didn't overbuild to the same extent as some of its competitors like Boston and San Diego, there has been little appetite for development as investment slowed.
