Pharmaceutical and biotechnology firm Moderna has acquired a newly constructed 140,000-square-foot Boston-area GMP facility from developer Oxford Properties Group for $91 million.
The 24-acre parcel, acquired as a vacant website by Oxford in 2021, is situated at 149 Hayes Memorial Drive in Marlborough, Mass., a Boston submarket. Oxford constructed a two-story biomanufacturing facility that was designed to accommodate a variety of producing processes.
The constructing has 36-foot clear heights, 4 loading docks and a number of freight elevators. Moderna, which plans to make use of the property for manufacturing and workplace house, is predicted so as to add 60,000 sq. toes and make investments greater than $320 million within the growth, in accordance with native information studies. The buildout will embrace a producing clear room, lab house and a warehouse, the Worcester Enterprise Journal reported.
Oxford stated the ability is predicted to open in late 2024 and generate greater than 200 jobs within the metropolis of Marlborough by 2026. Marlborough officers are contemplating a 20-year tax-increment financing request from Moderna, in accordance with the Group Advocate, which was the primary to report Moderna’s plan to purchase the property.
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Moderna, a Cambridge, Mass.-based firm that made one of many principal COVID-19 vaccines, has been rising lately, including manufacturing, lab and workplace house within the Boston life science market. In Could 2021, the corporate introduced it was increasing its Norwood, Mass., footprint by greater than doubling its manufacturing lab house from 300,000 sq. toes to 650,000 sq. toes by way of the acquisition of one other constructing on the identical campus. The house was wanted to extend its vaccine manufacturing capability by 50 % and assist technical improvement capability and preclinical manufacturing functionality.
A number of months later in October 2021, Moderna contracted with Alexandria Actual Property Equities Inc. to amass its 325 Binney St. property in Cambridge, a 462,000-square-foot laboratory and workplace mission that was already underneath building. The corporate beat out different life science companies that have been eying the cutting-edge facility that was designed to fulfill LEED Platinum Core & Shell, LEED Zero Vitality and Fitwel certifications to function as a net-zero business laboratory.
Ongoing demand
Chad Remis, government vice chairman, North America, Oxford Properties, stated in a ready assertion Oxford had deliberate to lease the asset and maintain it for the long run, when Moderna made an unsolicited provide to purchase the property. Remis stated that request allowed Oxford to expedite its marketing strategy execution. He stated it’s an indication of the continued demand for cutting-edge GMP amenities and Oxford’s objective is to proceed offering the extremely technical actual property infrastructure by way of conventional leases, ground-up and purpose-built improvement, and sale-leaseback transactions.
Oxford’s North American cGMP portfolio at present has 1.4 million sq. toes with an extra improvement pipeline of about 600,000 sq. toes. The platform has 11 amenities throughout six markets, with the biggest focus within the Boston area. For the reason that starting of 2021, Oxford has invested greater than $3 billion in international life sciences and has recognized an extra $5 billion of improvement alternatives. Oxford’s complete life science portfolio has 8 million sq. toes of accomplished properties, conversion initiatives and ground-up developments together with R&D labs and cGMP amenities in North America, the U.Ok. and continental Europe.
In February, Oxford accomplished its $125 million acquisition of 92 Crowley Drive, a 120,000-square-foot life science and GMP facility underneath building in Marlborough. Resilience, a biomanufacturing and prescription drugs agency, bought the property to Oxford in a sale-leaseback transaction and can proceed to occupy it for as much as 30 extra years. It was the third sale-leaseback transaction between Oxford and Resilience.