Barings has purchased One Patriots Park, a nearly 144,000 square foot Class A life science asset in the Boston suburb of Bedford, Massachusetts, for $132 million.
The company acquired the asset from privately held real estate investment firm Jumbo Capital Incorporated. Newmark facilitated the transaction.
A two-story building set on 14.4 acres, One Patriots Park is fully leased to four cutting-edge life science tenants and contains high-quality, modern buildouts including Biosafety Level 2 and 3 laboratories.
Barings said it intends to execute on value enhancements through the renovation of remaining first generation lab space.
“This investment is a fantastic addition to our platform and illustrates Barings’ commitment to sourcing diversified opportunities in specialized asset classes,” said Kevin Miller, Barings Head of Real Estate Acquisitions, Eastern US.
“This acquisition represents our core real estate investment strategy and we’re excited about future opportunities to generate value through additional conversion to lab and mark-to-market leasing opportunities,” he added.
Just 20 miles northwest of Boston with connectivity to Boston and Cambridge, the premier life sciences market in the country, One Patriots Park is centrally located within the Route 128 life sciences cluster, widely considered to be Boston’s leading suburban life sciences node and supported by strong market fundamentals, VC funding, innovation, and demographics.
Additionally, the life science asset is adjacent to the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway, a 10-mile bicycle path to Cambridge, and offers shuttle service to the MBTA Red Line’s Alewife Station.
“We are thrilled to add One Patriots Park to our portfolio,” said Deb Schwartz, Portfolio Manager on the Real Estate Equity platform. “Barings continues to target high-quality, well-leased life science assets in primary STEM and innovation markets. One Patriots Park is located in a thriving metro Boston life sciences market, and its LEED Gold certification reinforces Barings’ commitment to ESG.”
“One Patriots Park was completely redeveloped in 2019 with supplemental infrastructure added by the seller,” said Samantha Hallowell, managing director, Newmark’s Boston Capital Markets Group. “These upgrades enable the asset to support a full range of state-of-the-art laboratory requirements for its in-place tenancy while ensuring its future adaptability.”
Powered by dozens of colleges and universities, a highly educated and talented workforce, a world-renowned medical sector and diversified corporate base, Boston is an ever-growing center of innovation, technology, and life sciences with 19 of the 20 largest publicly traded Biotech/Pharma organizations occupying space in Greater Boston.
Demand for lab space is extremely strong across metro Boston, driven by the expansion of established companies and an extremely low lab vacancy rate.
Many tenants with a Boston/Cambridge presence look to this suburban cluster to expand their footprint, and Barings has strong conviction this asset will perform well given Boston’s extremely low vacancy and an increasing demand for space as the life sciences industry continues to seek suburban growth.
