The representation of landlords, tenants, developers and investors in life sciences transactions calls for sophisticated experience in light of the peculiar issues associated with startups, heavy upfront investment, integrity of laboratory space, environmental matters, security, decommissioning and related concerns. Over the past several years, we have represented owners and developers in the development and leasing of more than three million square feet of life sciences space. Our unsurpassed experience in this sector includes the acquisition, development, leasing and permitting of numerous pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing facilities, as well as complex restructurings of distressed leases and projects. We are also a leader in the representation of owners, operators and investors in seniors housing projects.
Representative matters include:
- the acquisition of the 7-building office, lab and retail One Kendall Square complex in Cambridge, Massachusetts for over $700 million, the largest real estate acquisition transaction in the Boston region in
2016;
- a construction loan from the Bank of China for the financing of a research and development facility at 100
Binney Street. The initial tenants of this 431,500 square foot building will be Bristol Myers Squibb and
another prominent pharmaceutical company;
- the acquisition, development and financing, with venture partners, of Longwood Center, a 400,000 square foot
lab and office building in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area leased to Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham
and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital;
- the lease to ImClone Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, as the anchor tenant of a
premier life sciences building in New York City;
- a $350 million transaction on behalf of the owner and developer of the first ever proton therapy center in New
York City including multiple layers of debt and equity financing and negotiations with the city, a hospital
consortium, providers of proton equipment and other parties. The tenant is a consortium of New York hospitals
including Memorial Sloan Kettering and Mt. Sinai. The developer acquired the land from New York City's Economic Development Corporation;
- counseling a global pharmaceutical company in the development of its more than million-and-a-half square
foot campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from the time it chose to shift its major research headquarters from
Europe to Cambridge, through today. Our efforts have included legal counsel with respect to (a) land use
permitting and zoning efforts for a 550,000 square foot state of the art research facility that opened one year ago; (b) obtaining and complying with operating permits; (c) undertaking complex environmental remediation
projects; (d) negotiations with multiple real estate owners (including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in both purchase and ground lease transactions; and (e) negotiations of construction and architect contracts.