Keystone Lands $265M Loan to Expand Philly Life Science Conversion

The Curtis. Image courtesy of Keystone Development + Investment

Keystone Development + Investment has secured a $265.2 million loan from Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) affiliate Nuveen Real Estate, to expand the life science conversion of landmark former publishing headquarters The Curtis in Philadelphia.

Part of the funding will be used for infrastructure upgrades and leasing costs at The Curtis, and another portion is intended to enable Keystone to convert the next 200,000 square feet at The Curtis to cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) and research laboratories over the next several years.

The Beaux Arts structure at 699 Walnut St., in the Washington Square West neighborhood, was built in 1910 as the Curtis Publishing Co. headquarters. Curtis’ best-known periodical was probably The Saturday Evening Post, a major mass-market weekly magazine with a circulation of 2 million or more from the 1920s into the 1950s.

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After purchasing the 12-floor, 912,245-square-foot building in 2014, Keystone renovated the property with a ground-floor streetscape and building atrium, the conversion of existing office space to luxury residential units, and the conversion of former printing press space to wet lab space for life science companies like IMVAX, Vivodyne and Aro Biotherapeutics.

BioLabs, which provides flexible biotech lab space and services, selected The Curtis for their 53,000-square foot Philadelphia incubator and graduate suites facility. The space offers emerging life science companies turnkey support and a full growth pipeline in one location.

The Curtis’ physical features that suit it for life science companies include 15-foot-plus ceiling heights, 200 psf vibration-resistant floors, multiple fresh air intakes, a dual power supply, dedicated laboratory backup emergency power, multiple loading dock bays and freight elevators, and numerous venting chases. Amenities include a tenant meeting and lounge suite, a 300-space covered parking garage, childcare center, 24-hour card access and on-site 24/7 security.

Solidly positioned

Philadelphia ranks in the top five U.S. life science space markets for market inventory (third, at 21.3 million square feet), 2021 absorption (fifth, with 663,000 square feet), and space under construction (fourth, at 2.2 million square feet) and proposed (third, at 9.7 million square feet), according to a spring market snapshot from Colliers.

The metro is also well positioned with respect to a low 3.8 percent average vacancy for life science space and for having attracted $2.4 billion in venture capital funding for life science entities.

In May, Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture of Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, announced plans to redevelop a one-block site at 2300 Market St. in Philadelphia as a 200,000-square-foot life science campus.