IQHQ Inks Biotech Firm to Lease Renewal, Extension
The laboratory at this suburban campus is one of the largest of its kind in the U.S.
Generate:Biomedicines, a pioneer in generative biology, has agreed to an early lease renewal and long-term extension for its cutting-edge 75,000-square-foot CryoEM laboratory at IQHQ’s Innovation Park in Andover, Mass.
Launched in 2020, Generate is the first drug generation company using a machine learning-powered generative biology platform with the ability to more quickly create new and more effective drugs on demand. The company unveiled its cryogenic electron microscopy laboratory at IQHQ’s life science district in Andover in June 2023.
The CryoEM laboratory is one of the largest of its type in the U.S. It is equipped with four microscopes that provide detailed molecular visualization enabling scientists to see the structure of proteins too small to be seen with traditional microscopes. The lab and its data are enriching the Generate platform leading to advancements in therapeutic design and drug discovery.
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IQHQ, a life science REIT and real estate developer, acquired the approximately 201,500-square-foot campus at 4 Corporate Drive in the 495 Corridor between 2020 and 2021. The REIT paid Eisai $35.9 million in March 2020 for the two-building, 18-acre campus, according to CommercialEdge. In spring 2020, IQHQ signed two long-term leases at the multi-tenant campus with UMass Lowell and Ora Inc., an ophthalmic contract research organization and product development firm.
Located in the Merrimack Valley East submarket about 20 miles north of Boston, Innovation Park was completed in 1987 and renovated and expanded in 2006. IQHQ also updated the campus by adding a café with indoor and outdoor seating, a fitness center and common-area improvements. The office and lab property has two low-rise buildings and 671 parking spaces. With renovations, the campus is now a 340,000-square-foot life science hub for biotechnology companies and life science manufacturing companies.
Growing life science portfolio
IQHQ, which acquires, develops and operates life science districts throughout the U.S., has been growing its presence in hubs including San Francisco, San Diego and Boston. In Boston, the REIT’s properties and projects include 109 Brookline Ave., a 285,000-square-foot lab and office building near the Longwood Medical Area, which IQHQ acquired from Equity Commonwealth in February 2020. That same year, IQHQ acquired Alewife Park, a 290,000-square-foot life science campus in Cambridge, Mass., in a $125 million sale-leaseback deal.
In April 2021, IQHQ and Meredith Management broke ground on Fenway Center, a $1 billion life science campus in Boston that will include lab, office and ground-floor retail space totaling almost 1 million square feet of space.
Nearly a year ago, IQHQ has topped out Spur Phase One, a 330,000-square-foot life science building in South San Francisco, Calif. Completion of the eight-story development is anticipated early this year.
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