BioMed Realty just gained a foothold in Colorado’s booming Boulder metropolitan area, and this was no small step: the Flatiron Park campus the Blackstone life sciences real estate portfolio company just acquired comprises no less than 1 million square feet of office and laboratory space across 22 buildings.
The seller was a joint venture of Crescent Real Estate, Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Real Estate Business and Lionstone Investments. The value of the transaction was not disclosed, but Jon Bergschneider, president of West Coast markets at BioMed Realty, said the firm plans to invest an additional $200 million in redevelopment costs at the site.
Flatiron Park is already 90% leased to a mix of industry-leading technology and life science firms, and Boulder’s status as a regional tech and life sciences hub means there are more potential tenants around. BioMed Realty aims to become an active part of this community, including by contributing to the University of Colorado at Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute, where researchers in the life sciences, physical sciences, computer science and engineering fields collaborate with industry partners to develop innovative solutions that enhance human health.
“Boulder has always been a market to watch, driven by highly educated talent, robust capital flow, an existing base of life science and tech pioneers and great quality of life,” said Mike Ruhl, vice president of Leasing at BioMed Realty. “As demand for office and lab space in the region continues to grow, we believe BioMed’s integrated platform and expertise is uniquely suited to support companies as they continue to scale in this key market.”
BioMed Realty owns and operates more than 13.7 million square feet of lab, technology and office real estate across seven major markets in the U.S. and the UK, including the Boston/Cambridge area in Massachusetts and Cambridge, UK.