HFF Orchestrates $355M Construction Loan for Vertex’s 1.1 MSF Boston HQ

July 8, 2011
By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Plans for a new headquarters campus for Vertex Pharmaceuticals at Boston’s mixed-use Fan Pier development got a boost as commercial real estate and capital markets services provider Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P. orchestrated a $355-million construction loan for The Fallon Company L.L.C. to bring the 1.1-million-square-foot office and research project to fruition.

Fallon will erect Vertex’s new home on land within the 21-acre Fan Pier development, a new nine-block neighborhood fronting the water in downtown Boston. The pharmaceutical company’s campus will consist of two 16-story office structures carrying the addresses of 50 North Ave. and 11 Fan Pier Blvd., and featuring the architectural designs of by Tsoi/Kobus Associates and Elkus/Manfredi Architects, respectively.

In addition to premier office accommodations, the buildings will offer laboratory space and 60,000 square feet of ground-level restaurant and retail space. Additionally, Vertex’s employees–a steadily expanding group–will be able to avail themselves of a parking facility providing 725 spaces.

With all funds in hand and Turner Construction on the ground as general contractor, the new campus is on track to reach completion in December 2013, at which point Vertex will relocate its headquarters from its current location in neighboring Cambridge. The company will occupy the building under an agreement with Fallon that constitutes the largest commercial lease in Boston’s history.