Monday, March 7, 2022
Friday, March 4, 2022
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Prologis Buys New Jersey Office Site To Redevelop as Industrial Property
By Linda Moss CoStar News
Giant industrial landlord Prologis has acquired an office property in southern New Jersey, a site that it plans to redevelop into a logistics facility as the demand in that sector continues to soar.
Prologis, which is based in San Francisco, purchased a 114,676-square-foot Class A office building at 112 W. Park Drive in Mount Laurel from Veritas Real Estate, whose headquarters is in Marlton, New Jersey.
Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. But Prologis plans to develop a 184,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art logistics facility at the 17-acre site, which is in Burlington County.
In the Garden State as well as across the country, real estate firms are buying office sites — even former corporate headquarters — to redevelop as distribution centers. That’s because the growth of e-commerce, accelerated by the pandemic, is driving demand for warehouses and logistics facilities, without enough supply. In contrast, in the wake of the peak of the outbreak, demand for office space has softened as employees work from home on a full-time or part-time basis.
“The acquisition of a Class A office property for repositioning and developing a warehouse reinforces the strength of the industrial market in New Jersey and the need for more modern logistics facilities. Across the region, several office buildings are being purchased with the intent to convert to industrial use. Towns throughout New Jersey are supportive to this type of redevelopment as it helps alleviate supply chain pain points and meets the insatiable demand by companies for industrial space.”
The Mount Laurel site is adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike and is roughly 20 minutes from Philadelphia International Airport and PhilaPort, the Port of Philadelphia.
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Gwynedd Mercy University sells 150 acres to Boston firm for $31.5M
Natalie Kostelni Reporter Philadelphia Business Journal
Gwynedd Mercy University has sold 150 acres for $31.5 million to Beacon Capital Partners, a Boston real estate investment firm that intends to use the property to expand its life sciences footprint in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Beacon already has a presence roughly two miles down the road from the university at Spring House Innovation Park, a 133-acre life sciences campus in Lower Gwynedd it bought for more than $100 million in early 2021.
Beacon’s acquisition of the 150 acres from Gwynedd Mercy demonstrates how companies are eager to secure sites throughout the suburbs and Philadelphia that can be developed into life sciences space. The region's growing life sciences sector has attracted domestic and international investors.
The latest came earlier this week when Oxford Properties Group, a global real estate firm based in Ontario, announced it formalized a deal to own and develop 3 million square feet of life sciences space at the Philadelphia Navy Yard with Ensemble Real Estate Investments and Mosaic Development Partners. Another was announced last month and involves a venture among Sterling Bay and Harrison Street Capital of Chicago and Botanic Properties of New York, which plans a 310,000-square-foot life sciences building at 38th and Chestnut streets in University City.
Full story: https://tinyurl.com/4x8kxp5s
Philadelphia Navy Yard Development Get Huge Life Science Investment from Oxford Properties
By Mark Heschmeyer CoStar News
Canada’s Oxford Properties Group is partnering with Ensemble/Mosaic to own and create a 3 million-square-foot life science hub at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia.
The agreement includes Oxford’s investment in five existing life sciences assets owned by Ensemble Real Estate Investments, and Ensemble/Mosaic’s first two planned life sciences properties. In addition, Oxford will look to partner in all future life sciences projects on sites controlled by Ensemble/Mosaic at the Navy Yard.
This is Oxford’s first investment in Philadelphia and further expands the firm’s extensive life science portfolio, which includes over 2 billion U.S. dollars of investment activity in North America in the past year. Oxford has now grown its North American life science business to 10 strategic markets from coast to coast.
“Building a dedicated life science business of scale remains one of our highest conviction global investment strategies, and our teams continue to do so in a sustained, yet highly targeted fashion,” Chad Remis, executive vice president of North America operations at Oxford, said in a statement.
Remis added that Oxford believes Philadelphia is poised to become a leading life science market due to the confluence of first-class educational and research institutions plus a number of innovative companies and talent whose growth is being powered by increasing levels of governmental and private funding.
“The Navy Yard has emerged as the heart of gene and cell therapy, and we are excited to bring our capital and capabilities in partnership with Ensemble/Mosaic to create a world-class life science innovation hub,” Remis said.
The two companies came together via a formal investor selection process, according to Kam Babaoff, chairman of Ensemble.
Key components of the agreement include the following:
- Oxford providing an undisclosed amount but what it calls a “substantial investment” in five existing life sciences buildings in the Navy Yard owned by Ensemble Real Estate Investments: 300, 351 and 400 Rouse Blvd. and 4701 and 4751 League Island Blvd. The buildings are fully leased to life sciences companies including Iovance Biotherapeutics, Adaptimmune Therapeutics and WuXi Advanced Therapies.
- Oxford will also invest an undisclosed but substantial investment in the first phase of the partnership’s two new development projects: 1201 Normandy Place, a four story, 137,000-square-foot lab building, and 333 Rouse Blvd., a two story, 105,000-square-foot lab building. Construction of both buildings will commence in 2022 on a speculative basis.
- Through its agreement with PIDC — Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation which oversees all management and development of the Navy Yard — the partners envision developing in excess of 2 million square feet of life science space.
Ensemble/Mosaic will continue as developer and asset manager, collaborating closely with Oxford. Ensemble will provide property management services for the partnership’s Navy Yard life science portfolio.
