Bristol Myers Squibb Signs 427K-SF Lease in San Diego

Alexandria Real Estate Equities has signed a 427,000-square-foot lease agreement with global biopharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb. The company is developing its newest core R&D facility at Alexandria Point property in San Diego’s UTC area. The transaction is the second largest lease agreement secured in the firm’s history.

Currently under construction, Alexandria Point is a 2-million-square-foot campus with laboratory and office space and more than 100,000 square feet of amenities, including an organic eatery, a best-in-class wellness and fitness center, state-of-the-art conference space, expansive green space and an on-site garden. Alexandria is also planning an event lawn and conference center capable of housing 800 people. The property will be built to LEED Gold standards.

Alexandria has a longstanding relationship with Bristol Myers Squibb. The two have partnered on more than 900,000 square feet of space in the company’s cluster markets, which include San Diego, Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City and Seattle.

The life science sector is poised for more growth again this year, with CBRE’s capital markets team estimated that US life sciences real estate is poised to grow another 10% minimum this year. The report notes the top five owners of US life sciences real estate: Alexandria Real Estate Equities, BioMed Realty (Blackstone’s life sciences arm), Healthpeak Properties, Ventas and Longfellow. The report notes that Alexandria Real Estate Equities reported more than $900 million of acquisitions in January alone and expects more than 8 million square feet of active development throughout the year. In addition, life science companies sought nearly 24 million square feet of new real estate in the third quarter alone, according to CBRE. That exceeds the amount of lab space under spec construction by nearly 2.8 million square feet.

Alexandria has also had a strong leasing year. In February, Urban office REIT and Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. secured a 334,000-square-foot, long-term full-building lease with global pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly and Co. at the new, state-of-the-art Institute for Genetic Medicine in Boston’s Seaport life science submarket.