Lendlease, Ivanhoé Cambridge Launch Life Science Joint Venture

60 Guest St. Image courtesy of Ivanhoé Cambridge and Lendlease

Nearly one year after acquiring a Boston site to build a nine-story, 320,000-square-foot life science facility together, Lendlease and Ivanhoé Cambridge have teamed up again to launch a joint venture with at least $500 million in equity to source new development and redevelopment projects across the country.

The partners expect to grow the portfolio through additional investments over time. The joint venture will focus on select life science clusters in Boston, the San Francisco Bay area and San Diego but will eventually target additional areas including the New York/New Jersey metropolitan region, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif.

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Ivanhoé Cambridge will be the majority partner in the venture that will deliver state-of-the-art labs, offices and manufacturing spaces in high-growth life science clusters. Lendlease will lead development and oversee construction on all projects and incorporate both firms’ aggressive sustainability goals into the developments.

Jonathan Pearce, executive vice president, leasing and development, North America, at Ivanhoé Cambridge, said in a prepared statement the partnership will enable the global real estate investor to deepen its footprint in the life science sector. He noted the sector has long-term growth fundamentals and will support the organization’s strategic portfolio diversification.

Through subsidiaries and partnerships, the company holds interests in more than 1,100 buildings primarily in the industrial and logistics, office, residential and retail sectors. The real estate subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Ivanhoé Cambridge holds approximately C$60.4 billion, or $47.4 billion, in real estate assets.

Denis Hickey, global chief operating officer & CEO-Americas at Lendlease, said the partnership brings together Ivanhoé Cambridge’s world-class investment expertise with Lendlease’s experience in the life science sector.

Through its construction business, Lendlease, a global real estate group with operations in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Americas, has completed more than 500 life science facilities in the U.S., totaling about 18 million square feet.

The projects include ground-up developments, renovations and conversions and range in size from individual labs to large-scale manufacturing plants. The Australian company’s U.S. commitments also include overseeing the development management at Google’s 7.3 million-square-foot mixed-use Downtown West project in San Jose, Calif.

 First project outlined

The first joint life science development from the partners is 60 Guest St. located in Boston’s Allston/Brighton neighborhood at New Balance Development Group’s Boston Landing campus.

The partnership acquired one of the last vacant parcels at the campus in March 2021 for $67 million. The 1.2-acre site was fully approved to accommodate a 320,000-square-foot life science facility and the partners are planning state-of-the-art lab and office space with a robust amenity program for the development.

Lendlease and Ivanhoé Cambridge are scheduled to break ground on 60 Guest St. this spring, with completion expected in 2024. The property near Harvard Business School in the Brighton neighborhood is located less than 5 miles west of Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., home to one of the most important life science clusters in the U.S. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.