Tishman Speyer Provides Loan for Boston Life Science Project
This deal is the first for the company’s new financing platform.
Tishman Speyer has closed a $25.2 million mezzanine loan on 500 Forge, a recently completed, approximately 162,000-square-foot Class A life science lab and office building in East Watertown, Mass.
The borrower is a joint venture led by Boylston Properties and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and the loan reportedly is Tishman Speyer’s first investment through its recently established debt platform.
Tishman Speyer’s loan is part of a refinancing package that also includes a $94 million senior loan from Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. Tishman Speyer reported that the proceeds will be used to retire the property’s 2021 construction loan and to fund contractual leasing costs in connection with a newly executed lease with Mariana Oncology, a Novartis subsidiary.
That lease brings 500 Forge to full tenancy. The other tenants are Orna Therapeutics and AvenCell Therapeutics.
The refinance was arranged by Brett Paulsrud, Henry Schaffer and Geoff Goldstein of the JLL Capital Markets Debt Advisory team.
READ ALSO: Key Trends Shaping the Life Science Sector
The three-story 500 Forge features a mix of lab and office space, with 15- to 18-foot ceiling heights, covered parking and outdoor balconies. The building was completed in 2023 and is part of Arsenal Yards’ life science campus, where it has joined 100 Forge and 200 Arsenal Yards Blvd.
The Arsenal Yards mixed-use campus anchors the suburban lab cluster in East Watertown, which borders West Cambridge and Allston. The 1 million-plus-square-foot campus features multiple restaurants, retailers and boutique fitness studios.
Tishman Speyer’s recently launched debt platform focuses on CRE lending tied to institutional-quality residential, industrial, life science, office and mixed-use projects and portfolios across the top U.S. metros. It targets a wide range of debt investments, including whole loans, subordinate and mezzanine debt, preferred equity, construction loans and purchases of legacy loans or loan portfolios.
Tishman Speyer’s involvement in the Boston life science market includes its ongoing development of the Harvard Enterprise Research Campus in Allston and The 105, a fully leased life science center developed by Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture of Tishman Speyer and biotechnology investment firm Bellco Capital.
Not as strong as before
Two recent items highlighted in a second-quarter report from Savills suggest the extent to which even the traditionally strong Boston-Cambridge life science market is vulnerable as life science–related venture capital funding declines.
In one, Bulfinch Cos. has proposed scrapping its plans for a 500,000-square-foot life science campus at 557 Highland Ave. in favor of residential units, medical offices and a hotel. In the other, Northeastern University acquired the 109,000-square-foot Burlington BioCenter for just $33 million, compared with the $103 million that MetLife paid to purchase the property in 2022.
Two further examples illustrate the market’s vagaries.
In early June, Related Beal topped out its Leiden Center II, a 345,000-square-foot life science project in Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in Boston. On its completion in early 2027, the building will be fully occupied by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Also in early June, Lendlease delivered FORUM, a nine-story, 350,000-square-foot life science building in Boston’s Allston-Brighton submarket, in the mixed-use Boston Landing neighborhood. Its only tenant so far—a coffee shop.
You must be logged in to post a comment.