BioMed Realty Acquires Three New Buildings in Kendall Square

BioMed Realty, one of the biggest labspace owners in the Boston area, recently acquired 215 First St., 150 Second St. and 11 Hurley St. from competing lab giant Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

According to a deed filed in Middlesex County, BioMed, an affiliate of Blackstone — one of the world’s largest private equity firms — paid $250 million to acquire the properties, which totaled more than 550,000 square feet of real estate.

The company currently owns more than 6 million square feet of existing real estate in Greater Boston, most of which are labs in the Cambridge area.

BioMed has a number of properties in Kendall Square, including a building under construction on 585 West Kendall St. with approximately 600,000 sq ft of office and lab space. The new tower, 585 Kendall, will be leased to Takeda Pharmaceuticals and will house its global research and development facility. In addition, 585 Kendall will contain a 30,000 sq ft performing arts center. The building’s tenants will start moving in by 2026.

In October, BioMed also acquired the $361.5 million Kendall Square building that houses “The Engine,” a Massachusetts Institute of Technology accelerator that provides resources like lab space to tech start-ups. This newest three-building acquisition also comes after BioMed secured $1.2 billion in financing from JP Morgan, Capital Corp, and CITI Real Estate in early 2024 for three other Kendall Square properties.

The new additions to BioMed’s portfolio on 215 First St., 150 Second St. and 11 Hurley St. are currently occupied by Sarepta Therapeutics, Editas Medicine, and Alexandria’s Boston office.

Cristi Barnett, senior vice president of corporate communications at Editas, wrote in a statement that there would be no changes to Editas’ operations as a result of the new landlord.

Alexandria’s real estate presence in the area remains significant even after the sale, with 12.9 million sq ft in Greater Boston, including over 5.4 million sq ft in Kendall Square, the center of Boston’s biotechnology sector. Alexandria operates three “premier Megacampus ecosystems” in Kendall Square. The real estate company recently renewed the ground lease for the 1.2 million sq ft Technology Square campus from MIT until 2088 instead of 2065.

Alexandria has been involved in Cambridge’s biotech industry since 1997, and BioMed entered the local life sciences realty market in 2005.

Activity in the biopharma industry is finally seeing an uptick, after a lull experienced following the pandemic. According to a 2024 report by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, biopharma companies headquartered in Massachusetts received $7.89 billion in venture capital funding, marking the first year-on-year increase since 2020-2021.

The value of in-state biopharma mergers and acquisitions tripled from 2023 to 2024, with a total of $42.6 billion spent to acquire 17 Massachusetts companies in the industry, and most in the first half of 2024.

MassBio President Kendalle B. O’Connell wrote in a 2024 industry report that this was “a notable jump” in merger and acquisition activity “at a time when private biotechs are looking for exits, and large pharma companies are looking for their next commercial opportunity.”

—Staff writer Stephanie Dragoi can be reached at stephanie.dragoi@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Thamini Vijeyasingam can be reached at thamini.vijeyasingam@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @vijeyasingam.