Oxford Properties Buys Life Science Assets for $276M

33 New York Ave., Framingham, Mass. Image courtesy of Oxford Properties

Oxford Properties Group has purchased four life science assets, three in Boston and one in the San Francisco Bay Area, totaling 415,000 square feet. The total of $276 million in acquisitions also included two parcels of developable land in the Bay Area.

Additionally, Oxford announced plans to invest a further $500 million in these assets.

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In a partnership with City Center Realty Partners, Oxford acquired Emeryville Public Market in Emeryville, Calif., from a joint venture between City Center Realty Partners and Angelo Gordon. The sellers were represented by Steven Golubchik and Nicholas Bicardo of Newmark.

The property is a 148,000-square-foot mixed-use project comprising lab space, retail, food and office space in Emeryville’s established life sciences cluster. It includes 36,000 square feet of ground-floor lab space, a food hall, and about 60,000 square feet of office and retail space identified for conversion to lab space.

This deal included two additional parcels, one of which was recently entitled for a nine-story, 200,000-square-foot life science building, an Oxford spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive.

Rendering of a potential development in Emeryville, Calif. Image courtesy of Oxford Properties

In the East Coast transaction, Oxford acquired three assets in the Boston area. 33 New York Ave., Framingham, Mass., is a recently completed 114,000-square-foot biomanufacturing facility that is fully leased to Replimune Group Inc. and CRISPR Therapeutics.

The company also purchased 1 and 5 Mountain Road, a pair of buildings only half a mile from 33 New York Ave. They total 153,000 square feet and are fully leased to Sanofi.

Oxford solely acquired the Framingham assets, from a joint venture between King Street and The Carlyle Group.

Riding a surge

“Growing a meaningfully sized life sciences business” is one of Oxford’s top priorities, Chad Remis, executive vice president, North America, said in a prepared statement.

He noted that factors such as an aging population and advances in data analytics and AI are helping to drive private equity and venture capital funding into the life sciences market, in the context of “a limited supply of lab infrastructure in the sector’s key global markets.”

Both metro Boston and the Bay Area are among the nation’s top three life sciences markets (the third being San Diego), according to an October report from CBRE. By themselves, they accounted for more half of the record $17.8 billion in total venture capital funding for the 12 months ending in the second quarter of 2020. CBRE further noted that Pittsburgh and Houston are tops among emerging life sciences clusters.

Last June, Hines announced plans to partner with 2ML Real Estate Interests to build Levit Green, a 52-acre life sciences hub in Houston, adjacent to the Texas Medical Center.