The newly acquired building is approximately 20 years old and iscurrently 95% leased. Mike Brown, senior vice president in thePhiladelphia office of Trammell Crow Co., negotiated thetransaction. The seller is locally based Penns Wood Spring MillAssociates LP. Brown will also handle leasing for BioMed, which isbased in San Diego and has offices in Berwyn, New York City, Bostonand San Francisco.

Brown tells GlobeSt.com that the building currently has onebiotech tenant. "BioMed will retrofit the vacant space for lab useand custom retrofit additional space for biotech tenants as currentleases expire." He declined to disclose rent rates, "because theywill vary, depending on the configurations and fit-outs required byeach new tenant," Brown says. "The facility is designed to providelab and office space to small biotech firms as they grow. Byleasing class A lab space that is ready for turnkey operation, theycan get a running start without having to spend time and money topurchase and retrofit a building."

The concept is one that BioMed has implemented in other areasthat have a substantial presence of life science firms. It owns 52properties aggregating about 7.7 million sf in 11 states. Amongthem are seven in the Philadelphia area with an aggregate of morethan 775,000 sf. Brown says this five-county area accounts for 55%of Pennsylvania's total bioscience employment and wages, and thereare 200 companies in the state that are engaged inbiopharmaceutical operations.