Kendall Square Trophy Could Fetch $200M

Spaulding & Slye Colliers is marketing the site on behalf Lincoln Property Co. of Boston, and JE Robert Cos. of McLean, VA, which bought the property in 2000 for $192 million. Along the lab and office space, the complex features first floor retail space, a 1,500-space parking garage, a nine-screen movie theater and the right to develop 117,000 sf of office space.

According to a prospectus sent to several potential buyers, 47% of the building is comprised of laboratory space, while 39% is office space and 10% is retail. No asking price has been set for the sale, but an insider familiar with the sale tells GlobeSt.com that the property is expected to fetch up to $200 million when bids close in early fall.

The property, which is 70% occupied, holds some of the top names in the biotech field, including Genzyme Corp., Harvard Medical, Identix Pharmaceuticals, Whitehead Institute for BioMedical Research and Charles Stark Draper Laboratories. "This is a good chance for an investment group to come in and reposition the property," says one broker who did not want to be identified. "With the biotech market heating up in Cambridge, this is a golden opportunity for investors."

From 1996 until 2002, the Kendall Square submarket had an average vacancy rate of 2.2%. Current vacancy rates in the Cambridge office market fell below the 20% level for the first time in three years when they hit 18.3%, in the second quarter, down from 21.1% since the beginning of the year.