Paul Schwedelson Reporter - Philadelphia Business Journal
Development of 1201 Normandy Place, a life sciences and lab building at the Navy Yard, is nearing completion. The 137,000-square-foot building is planned to open in June.
Fast-growing French biotechnology company bioMérieux has outgrown its space at the University City Science Center and will relocate into 32,000 square feet at a building under development at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
It’s the first lease signed for the new building at 1201 Normandy Place, a project scheduled to open in June. BioMérieux plans to move there in early 2024. The building is being developed by Ensemble Real Estate Investments and Mosaic Development Partners in partnership with Oxford Properties.
BioMérieux bought Philadelphia-based Invisible Sentinel in 2019 for $75 million. The new site will house Invisible Sentinel, a provider of DNA detection tools to protect against impurities in food, beer, wine and medical cannabis production.
“This is going to be a showcase for our company,” said Ben Pascal, bioMérieux’s global head of its xPRO Program and chief business officer of Invisible Sentinel
For now, there’s about 45 employees working out of Invisible Sentinel’s 10,000 square feet at the Science Center. The new space allows for the company’s significant growth to continue and for the company to add “quite a number of jobs over the next few years” in both biotech research and development and also in manufacturing, Pascal said. The lease is for 10 years, he said.
Since bioMérieux bought Invisible Sentinel, Pascal said Invisible Sentinel has seen "significant double-digit growth year over year" in both revenue and production volume. Space in its University City location had become tighter as the company increased its employees and operations, creating a need for what 1201 Normandy can provide.
“It’s beautiful. The space and the building we’re moving into is top of the line, state of the art,” Pascal said. “[It] can support our manufacturing operation, has the equipment, has the infrastructure.”
1201 Normandy is the first speculative multi-tenant research and development lab building at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. The 137,000-square-foot building is designed to be optimized for cell and gene therapy companies and able to accommodate all life sciences users.
Ensemble Managing Director Mark Seltzer said bioMérieux’s lease proves speculative life sciences development in the Navy Yard can be successful. BioMérieux is taking most of the second floor of the four-story building, which leaves about 100,000 square feet remaining. The Navy Yard is a 1,200-acre campus that's become a hub for life sciences companies. The team of Ensemble and Mosaic is developing part of the property with a $6 billion development plan scheduled to take place over the next two decades.
Invisible Sentinel was founded in 2006 in University City and Pascal said it was important to remain in Philadelphia. He’s found it beneficial to be in a life sciences hub like University City to be aware of new industry trends, innovations and in close proximity to similar companies and workers. Being in the Navy Yard could provide a similar experience near other life sciences companies. And a brand new building means more opportunities.
Full story: https://tinyurl.com/ctancuer
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