$35.34M in funding secured for suburban Boston life science conversion

BOSTON, Nov. 10, 2021 – JLL Capital Markets announced that it has arranged $35.34 million in financing for the acquisition and repositioning of a 233,726-square-foot, two-building R&D/office portfolio into a life sciences campus in the suburban Boston community of Andover, Massachusetts.

JLL worked on behalf of the borrower, a partnership between True North Management Group and Celera Properties, to place the floating-rate loan with OceanFirst Bank. Proceeds are being used to fund the acquisition and repositioning of the properties.

The portfolio consists of the buildings at 300 and 600 Federal Street, two steel-frame 90’s vintage buildings with large floorplates, high ceiling heights, ample loading capacity, abundant natural light and robust existing infrastructure. Ownership is undertaking lab-ready, base-building upgrades and building out speculative lab suites to support state-of-the-art lab and/or GMP manufacturing space for initial occupancy in the fourth quarter of 2022. The buildings and the surrounding park are already home to numerous high-growth science and technology companies.

300 and 600 Federal Street is in Andover, a rapidly growing suburban life science market anchored by well-known pharmaceutical and medical research companies. This submarket’s location at the intersection of Interstates 93 and 495 provides convenient access to a large population of both scientific and skilled manufacturing talent across a broad area and provides easy access to Cambridge and Boston, as well as two international airports.  

Boston is the indisputable center of life sciences. In its recently released 2021 Life Sciences Lab Real Estate Outlook, JLL Research crowned the greater Boston area the No. 1 life sciences cluster in the U.S. due to its supply of lab real estate dynamics, deep and educated talent pool, innovation and industry depth. JLL expects the demand for lab space to grow as a result of funding flows, talent and lab space supply growth expectations.

The JLL Capital Markets team representing the borrower was led by Managing Director Greg LaBine and Senior Director Martha Nay.

“Even as a newer entrant to the market, OceanFirst Bank quickly realized that Andover is a dual laboratory and manufacturing life science location,” Nay said. “As such, OceanFirst was highly motivated to work with team of Celera and True North on a strategic and highly executable business plan.”

JLL Capital Markets is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm's in-depth local market and global investor knowledge delivers the best-in-class solutions for clients — whether investment sales and advisory, debt advisory, equity advisory or a recapitalization. The firm has more than 3,000 Capital Markets specialists worldwide with offices in nearly 50 countries.

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