Turn to page B1 for Banker & Tradesman’s monthly coverage of all things commercial real estate.
THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND REAL ESTATE WEEKLY FOR MASSACHUSETTS BY THE NUMBERS
PAGE 6
IN PERSON
County close-up: Suffolk Spotlight: Jamaica Plain
PAGE 9
Heather Quintal is the fifth generation in her family to work with stone. Her great-great grandfather founded Bates Brothers, a Weymouth stone provider, in the 1930s. Her grandfather bought JF Price Co. in 1950, which dealt with trucking, aggregate stone and earth products like mulches, loam and soils.
WEEK OF MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS
$39 million The sale price of a retail and office building at 240 Elm St. in Somerville. See the Hot Property on page 7 for more. Source: Asana Partners
10 years
TA L E N T C E N T R A L
WHEN A MERGER MEANS GROWTH
How long it took for St. James Place mixed-use development to be completed. See Larry Field’s column on page B6. Source: Oaktree
2.5 million The amount of square feet of lab and office construction space that are under way in the Cambridge offices/lifesciences market. See Jay Fitzgerald’s story on the cover of the CRE Insider. Source: Cushman & Wakefield
28%
Irish drugmaker Shire leased the entire former Genzyme headquarters at 500 Kendall St. in Cambridge in 2017, but Shire’s pending merger with Takeda Pharmaceuticals has delayed plans for occupancy.
The increase in employment in the biopharma sector in Massachusetts over the past 10 years. See John Kavanagh III’s column on page B4. Source: MassBio 2018 Industry Snapshot
$5 million A grant from the Life Sciences Center to the University of Massachusetts Medical School to open a facility for high-resolution electron cryo-microscopy. See Travis McCready’s column on page B5. Source: University of Massachusetts Medical School
12 million The amount of square feet of commercial life sciences lab space that has been built in Massachusetts during the last decade. See John Kavanagh III’s column on page B4. Source: MassBio 2018 Industry Snapshot
224,000 The amount of square feet of the almostcompleted Alewife Research Center. See Jay Fitzgerald’s story on page B7. Source: The Davis Cos.
$7 million The amount spent on capital improvements at 240 Elm St. in Somerville. See this week’s Hot Property on page 7. Source: Newmark Knight Frank
Unless otherwise noted, all data is sourced from The Warren Group’s Mortgage Market Share Module, Loan Originator Module, Statistics Module and/or proprietary database. For more information please visit www.thewarrengroup.com/business/ datasolutions.
Two Life Science Heavyweights Sort Out Real Estate Needs BY STEVE ADAMS BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
A
merger between the second and sixth largest employers in Massachusetts’ all-important life science industry typically would cause indigestion in commercial real estate and economic development circles. So why is nobody reaching for the Zantac about Takeda Pharmaceu-
ticals’ pending $62 billion takeover of Irish drugmaker Shire, given Shire’s more than 3,000 Bay State employees and 2 million square feet of occupancy in Cambridge and the suburbs? “If you look at why all of the companies are coming here, they’re coming to access innovation and world-class talent,” said John Hallinan, chief business officer for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. “They’re coming here to expand.” Tokyo-based Takeda wasted little time affirming its commitment to Massachusetts. The company said this month it’s planning to move its 1,000-employee U.S. headquar-
ters from suburban Chicago to Greater Boston once the merger is complete, pending a series of regulatory approvals. Takeda has not announced a location. But real estate sources speculate that it could ultimately occupy the 350,000-square-foot former Genzyme headquarters at 500 Kendall St., which Shire had already leased effective Aug. 1 as it expands its Cambridge presence. Fresh uncertainty about the future of that trophy property has been kindled by recent reports that Shire had halted its tenant buildout and planned occupancy. Continued on Page 8
COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
FA N S O F F I N T E C H
Officials Allege Town Blocked Reasonable Affordable Housing Proposals
Industry Leaders See Untapped Potential in Consumer Data
By Scott Van Voorhis | Banker & Tradesman Columnist
By Bram Berkowitz | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Carlisle Housing Authority Stakeholders Come Together Members Quit in Protest for 35 Fintech Events in Boston
Commercial Real Estate PAGE 3
Banking & Lending PAGE 7