Category: News

A big congratulations goes out to Longfellow Real Estate Partners’ own Catalina Miller-Booth for her selection as one of the top Administrative professionals in Southern California by the San Diego Business Journal here —> https://lnkd.in/gchrrnKq

Catalina serves as Administrative Assistant for Longfellow’s San Diego home in the Biovista Campus, responsible for daily office management while partnering with the Chief Investment Officer & Managing Director, Director of Corporate Communications, and other office staff on project delivery.

Congratulations to Longfellow’s own Nick Frasco for being recognized by the San Diego Business Journal as one of San Diego’s 2023 Leaders of Influence in Commercial Real Estate! Nick serves as Chief Investment Officer West & Managing Director for Longfellow Real Estate Partners and is responsible for strategic growth in the Western US and operations in Southern California including oversight of acquisitions, development, asset management, design and construction, property management, and leasing.

Full list of honorees: https://www.sdbj.com/issues/leaders-of-influence/commercial-real-estate-leaders-of-influence-2023-honorees/

Longfellow’s major Franklin St. development takes shape in Chapel Hill
By: Kayli Thompson / Triangle Business Journal

New details about a large facility for lab and office space in downtown Chapel Hill are being revealed.

Longfellow Real Estate Partners will construct a 320,000-square-foot building with ground-floor retail and a standalone parking deck at 306 W. Franklin St.

Longfellow announced a development plan in November, but at the time there were few specifics as the company was early in the process. The company is not ready to share the cost of the project as it’s still in the entitlement and planning process, but Managing Director Greg Capps said they estimate delivery in early 2026.

Life sciences development is part of the reimagining of downtown Chapel Hill where multiple large projects in the works will alter the feel of the college community.

Currently, the Longfellow plans show a 9-story building with a public courtyard and a through-block pedestrian pathway connecting Rosemary and Franklin streets. The parking deck will have 320 spaces, but Capps said the company wants to have as small a parking structure on the site as possible to make more room for public green space.

The interior of the Class-A building will be similar to other new lab buildings that Longfellow has built recently – with a focus on a creating an amenity-rich environment.

Capps said the company is being careful with plans for the exterior of the building as it doesn’t want to disrupt the look and feel of downtown Chapel Hill. The company wants to bring a new and exciting project without it being drastically different from what people are used to seeing in the college town.

The property is 1.84 acres and owned by Longfellow. The current building links Franklin and Rosemary streets and includes multiple retail and food concepts. Capps said the company wants to build relationships with the current tenants, including discussing opportunities for them to stay on in the new building.

Courtesy of Triangle Business Journal: https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2023/03/14/longfellow-life-sciences-development-chapel-hill.html

Longfellow Real Estate Partners’ Collaborative Approach and Fully Integrated Services Create Thoughtful Spaces that Fuel Life-Changing Innovation

Some companies invest in real estate. Others invest experience, capital, and unremitting hard work into creating transformational real estate solutions that shape industries. But that’s just one reason Longfellow Real Estate Partners stands out. Founded by Boston-based entrepreneurs Adam Sichol and Jamie Peschel, Longfellow is a leader in innovation real estate with eight international locations—including state-of-the-art developments in the Research Triangle.

“We’re one of the largest privately owned life science real estate developer and investment firms in the world,” says Jessica Brock, partner of real estate operations.

“That’s backed by our track record of developing innovative spaces that empower companies and people.”
An industry pro, Brock was one of Longfellow’s first employees, helping to expand its footprint and capabilities along the way. With over 12 years investing in the Research Triangle, Longfellow has continued to meet the needs of local and international companies.

“We’re committed to serving the entire life science community,” she says. “We’re building an ecosystem that fosters everything from startups and midsize companies to Big Pharma, academic institutions, and more.”

“Vertical integration helps us understand clients’ needs and create holistic solutions that better service all life science and biotech companies,” adds Greg Capps, managing director, North Carolina.

Staffed by an expert team, Longfellow helps clients thrive with a collaborative approach and fully integrated services. From acquisition to tenant services, the company provides unparalleled resources, including asset management, property management, design, construction, and leasing.

“Our teams seamlessly collaborate and communicate,” says Capps. “Keeping every capability in-house helps us stay nimble, strategic, and knowledgeable.”

MORE THAN SPACE

Across Durham and Wake County, Longfellow combines flexibility and expertise to exceed unique market demands, providing vital resources to an underserved industry.

“We help clients focus on science while we handle real estate. Innovation real estate is different because our clients need their highly technical workspaces to be safe, secure, and accessible 24/7,” Brock says.

“They need to move in quickly and get to work,” she continues, mentioning most clients gravitate toward mixed-use properties with opportunities to live, work, and play.

Completed in 2018, the first phase of Durham ID does just that. Nestled among hip downtown neighborhoods, the property, on 200 and 300 Morris Street, features 350,000 square feet of cutting-edge technology, ground-level retail, and office space while housing notable tenants including Google, GSK, and the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

Offering nearly 200,000 square feet of innovative lab space, the second phase will break ground at 518 West Morgan Street.

Another development, The Hub, is bringing new opportunities to Research Triangle Park when it breaks ground in spring 2023. Serving as a marquee building and integrating with RTP’s 2 million-square-foot, master-planned development—complete with apartments, restaurants, and a hotel—the 240,000-square-foot property will provide lab and technology space.

“We’re bullish on investing in life sciences and driving continued growth across all of our major markets,” says Brock, adding that clients can expect Longfellow to continue delivering innovative real estate spaces across the Triangle area and beyond. “There’s a bright future ahead for life science operators at the top of their game. We plan to be a big player for years to come.”

Millbrae, CA (March 1, 2023) — Longfellow Real Estate Partners, one of the largest privately held investor and developer of life science buildings in the United States, today celebrated the groundbreaking of Avia Labs at Millbrae Station. Located in the emerging Bay Area submarket of Millbrae, the new 315,000 square-foot Class A lab and office project will replace a former vacant storage facility with the first all-electric life science campus in California.

Centrally located within the San Francisco Peninsula – just steps away from the Millbrae Transit Center, one of the largest transit hubs on the west coast, and San Francisco International Airport – the new campus will offer unparalleled access to transit, world-renowned universities and key industry hubs from San Francisco to Palo Alto.

“Millbrae’s transit-oriented location and proximity to world-class institutions make it the ideal site for a new purpose-built life science hub,” said Lauren McDermott, Longfellow Managing Director, San Francisco. “We look forward to following through on our vision for this site as a state-of-the-art facility, built with ESG at the forefront and designed to meet the demands of academic research institutions and biotech companies large and small.”

With LEED Gold and Fitwel Certifications, Longfellow’s ground-up design emphasizes not only energy efficiency but quality of life for tenants, who will benefit from natural light reaching all sides of the buildings, and access to a suite of campus amenities: including a fitness center, large conference spaces, bike storage, a terrace overlooking the city with beautiful mountain views and a publicly accessible café to welcome members of the Millbrae community.

“The Bay Area remains one of the crucial global hubs for life science innovation within our international portfolio. As we continue to expand our presence in the region, we look forward to delivering ground-up projects that are built to accommodate the robust requirements of our tenants.” said Longfellow Co-Founder & CEO Adam Sichol. “Avia Labs will not only provide top-quality lab and office space but reflect Longfellow’s commitment to environmental sustainability across our portfolio.”

Groundbreaking on Avia Labs marks a milestone in Longfellow’s continued growth in the Bay Area since its entry to the market in 2018. With over 2.5 million square feet of existing space and another 2.5+ million square feet of development in the pipeline, Longfellow has key developments throughout the region in locations such as Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Francisco, and Emeryville.

Longfellow currently has a total investment and development portfolio of approximately 16.5 million square feet and over $10 billion in total asset value, with large footprints in the most dynamic centers for the biotech industry including San Diego, Boston, Research Triangle of North Carolina, the United Kingdom, and more.

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About Longfellow Real Estate Partners
Longfellow Real Estate Partners is a real estate investment company founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 2009. With over 200 employees in bio-innovation clusters across the US and UK, Longfellow partners with renowned universities and pioneering life sciences and technology companies to help bring visionary ideas to life. Driven by a passion to support those working to advance the human condition, Longfellow continues to grow and expand in the name of scientific progress. For more information, visit https://lfrep.com.

Press/Media Contact
Casey Angel: Director, Corporate Communications
+1 (619) 400-7990 • cangel@lfrep.com

Boston, MA (February 8, 2023) — Longfellow Real Estate Partners, one of the largest privately held investor and developer of life science buildings in the world, has announced its standing commitment to sustainability and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) as a priority within its growth strategy.

After establishing an ESG Task Force in 2021 to advance the firm’s focus on integrating sustainability across its portfolio, Longfellow created a new leadership role and in March 2022 hired former VHB associate and ULI/New England member Lauren Ballou to head the firm’s ESG efforts. Ballou brings years of experience working as an environmental and sustainability planner for public and private projects to the position.

“Our ESG program is broadly focused on the following elements: organizational strategy/policy, sustainable design and operations, and reporting/disclosure,” Lauren Ballou, Longfellow Associate Director of ESG. “Building environmentally conscious and socially responsible projects is critical to meeting the challenges of climate change, and the needs of innovative companies who are demanding resilient, 21^st century infrastructure.”

From a reporting perspective, Longfellow began submitting to GRESB in 2021, using the Measurabl platform to track ESG data. Longfellow’s 2022 GRESB Real Estate Assessment score increased by about 46% compared to its first submittal in 2021. The GRESB Real Estate Assessment is the global standard for ESG benchmarking and reporting for real estate.

Building on existing policies and initiatives, Longfellow recently rolled out a formal ESG Policy across the organization, which serves as the baseline strategy. The policy will be updated annually and, in the future, will include a public-facing version. Earlier this year, Longfellow also formalized Sustainability and Resilience Design Guidelines for new development projects. The guidelines establish baseline project goals related to climate resilience, energy use, renewable energy, embodied carbon, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, waste, and water.

To further the firm’s commitment in the ESG space, Longfellow became a member of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Greenprint Community of Practice, joining the global alliance of more than 75 leading real estate owners, developers, and investors that are committed to improving the environmental performance of the global real estate industry.

“The entire team at Longfellow feels privileged to be part of ULI Greenprint. It is not only a premiere resource to share best practices, and also expands on our strong regional and national relationship with the Urban Land institute whose mission, to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities aligns closely with Longfellow,” said Jamie Peschel, Longfellow Co-Founder and Senior Partner.

The company’s portfolio includes projects with significant sustainability features such as Bioterra, a new ground-up 323,000-square foot hub in San Diego, which once complete will be certified LEED Gold and the city’s first all-electric life science building. In the Bay Area, Longfellow is designing the ground-up development, AVIA Labs in Millbrae, with LEED Gold and Fitwel Certifications, which will emphasize energy efficiency and reinforce the firm’s commitment to sustainability in upcoming projects. On the East Coast, Longfellow has maintained LEED Gold for its master planned Durham ID campus, along with innovative solutions that feature EV charging availability, water saving fixtures throughout, and lab conversion efficiency measures such as heat recovery loop systems and LED lights with occupancy sensors.

“At Longfellow we are committed to unlocking lasting value through sustainable building efforts and best practices to deliver innovative spaces for our environmentally conscious tenants and investors,” said Adam Sichol, Longfellow Co-Founder and CEO. “Bettering our future isn’t just about the projects we complete, but more importantly, the communities we serve.”

Longfellow currently has a total investment and development portfolio of approximately 16.5 million square feet and over $10bn in total asset value, with large footprints in the most dynamic centers for the biotech industry including Boston, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area, Research Triangle of North Carolina, and the United Kingdom.

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About Longfellow Real Estate Partners
Longfellow Real Estate Partners is a real estate investment company founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 2009. With over 200 employees in bio-innovation clusters across the US and UK, Longfellow partners with renowned universities and pioneering life sciences and technology companies to help bring visionary ideas to life. Driven by a passion to support those working to advance the human condition, Longfellow continues to grow and expand in the name of scientific progress. For more information, visit https://lfrep.com.

Press/Media Contact
Casey Angel – Director, Corporate Communications
+1 (619) 400-7990 • cangel@lfrep.com

First Look inside California English from Celebrity Chef Richard Blais, located in San Diego on Longfellow Real Estate Partners’ Biovista Campus

Richard Blais has been working on the menu for California English for more than a decade but the concept started long before that, when Blais was just a teenager. “I’ve always wanted to do fish and chips at a restaurant, ever since I worked at McDonald’s at 14-years-old and was the ‘poissonnier’ on the Filet-O-Fish station,” he says.

Through his storied career—which includes Juniper & Ivy, Crack Shack, and Ember & Rye in San Diego, plus a few books and TV shows (Top Chef, Next-Level Chef, etc.)—California English marks the first time Blais has put fish and chips on a menu. He pulled out all the stops for the iconic dish. The chef is as fanatical about fries as he is about the crispy battered fish; he created a three-day process for the perfect potato.

Blais, who is 55.3 percent British himself, had been thinking about creating a British SoCal fusion restaurant since his London honeymoon, jotting ideas into a moleskin. “It’s an interesting time in my career; I can look back and say I’ve always wanted to do this, and just do it,” he says. “A couple of months ago I spent 40 days living in West London in preparation for this project, marching around eating. I’m a massive futbol (soccer) fan; I have a vision of this place being a happening Saturday and Sunday futbol scene. I look forward to those 7 a.m. mornings, turning this place into the poshest of futbol viewing venues.”

Located in the Biovista life sciences campus, California English is a partnership with Longfellow Real Estate Partners—which has 200 employees in bio-innovation clusters across the US and the UK. They plan to open another restaurant together nearby sometime next year. “Sorrento Valley is close to everything, next to nothing,” says Blais. “So California English will be a destination.”

For full article and inside look, visit: First Look, courtesy of San Diego Magazine.

2022 in Review: Local universities drive growth with capital projects and real estate deals

Though higher education leaders continue to grapple with decreasing enrollment, that didn’t stop Philadelphia-area universities from growing their real estate footprints in 2022.

In many cases, colleges and universities played the role of real estate developers, with planned nine-figure price tag developments, proposed renovations of historic buildings and the addition of campuses.

Life sciences boom

As the life sciences industry continues to boom in Philadelphia, specifically in University City, higher education institutions are proving some of the main drivers. Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania in particular are snapping up real estate as they plan to develop new centers in the field.

In March, Drexel, along with Gattuso Development Partners, shared plans to build a $400 million, 500,000-square-foot research and lab building at 3201 Cuthbert St. A few months later in June, Penn, in partnership with Longfellow Real Estate Partners, proposed a $365 million, 455,000-square-foot biomanufacturing building at Pennovation Works. More recently, Drexel opened its 12-story, 460,000-square-foot health sciences building in December, which will house all of its health sciences programs.

Outside of University City, Temple is planning to turn its decades-old library into its new home for the College of Public Health. Paley Hall, which was built 1966, will see a 120,000-square-foot expansion that will add two stories onto the three-story building. The project has a construction budget of $120 million.

Courtesy of: Philadelphia Business Journal
For full article, please visit: https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/12/28/2022-in-review-higher-ed-capital-projects.html

Longfellow Real Estate Partners Announces Further Growth of its UK Platform with Key Hires Following First Acquisition in Cambridge

London, UK (December 12, 2022) – Longfellow Real Estate Partners (Longfellow), one of the largest privately owned investment managers and operators of life science real estate in the world, announced the expansion of its UK platform with the addition of Tom French as Director of Design & Construction. In this role, Tom will lead the firm’s development activities in the UK, collaborating closely within the Longfellow group to oversee conversions, developments, and redevelopments to deliver thoughtful and sustainable, best-in-class R&D space and amenities.

Tom joins Longfellow with a proven track record of development success. In his previous role, he served as Development Director with EDGE Technologies – one of Europe’s leading sustainably-focused commercial developers – where he was a member of the firm’s senior leadership team with responsibility for the UK development portfolio and team. Prior to EDGE, Tom spent 13 successful years at Derwent London, a London-focused REIT with a c.£6bn portfolio and a reputation as one of the UK’s leading commercial developers of the last 30 years.

The addition of Tom French to the UK platform comes on the heels of Longfellow exchanging agreements to enter into a partnership with PSP Investments and Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) targeting a £1.5BN venture focused on life science and innovation real estate across the UK. The first investment for the venture, Capital Park Cambridge – a 42-acre campus of approximately 250,000 square feet of innovation-focused workspace that is home to a dozen companies from sectors including fintech, agtech and biotech, through to patent law and the NHS – was secured in May of this year.

Longfellow’s footprint in the UK continues to grow as Tom joins the UK Managing Director, Alex Wright, and further recent team additions, Jonathan Wan (Associate Director, Accounting & Finance), Dilara Kaur (Associate Director, Asset Management), Tom O’Sullivan (Associate, Investments), and Veronika Cambalova (Office Manager) in the London office.

“We are thrilled to have Tom join our growing team here in the UK,” said Alex Wright, Managing Director, UK. “As someone with deep knowledge of the UK market and a keen focus on thoughtful design and sustainable development, he will be a key part of our ongoing success as we deliver projects and further grow our portfolio and team. We are delighted to welcome Tom, along with Jonathan, Dilara, Tom O’Sullivan and Veronika to Longfellow.”

“Longfellow is committed to building a best-in-class life sciences real estate team and portfolio in the UK,” said Adam Sichol, Longfellow Co-Founder & CEO. “The UK has a rich history of research and innovation and we look forward to partnering with the UK’s top institutions, companies and entrepreneurs on their laboratory requirements.”

Longfellow first expanded internationally to the UK in late 2021 with the hire of Managing Director Alex Wright to set-up the UK platform. Longfellow is a long-term, specialist investor in life science real estate with a total investment and development portfolio of more than 16.5 million square feet in the US and over $10bn in total asset value. The company invests through a series of funds and structures with a range of world-leading institutional investors. Longfellow has key campuses in top life science metro areas including Boston-Cambridge (Massachusetts), Maryland-Washington D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, and the Research Triangle of North Carolina.

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About Longfellow Real Estate Partners
Longfellow Real Estate Partners is a real estate investment company founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 2009. With over 200 employees in bio-innovation clusters across the US and UK, Longfellow partners with renowned universities and pioneering life sciences and technology companies to help bring visionary ideas to life. Driven by a passion to support those working to advance the human condition, Longfellow continues to grow and expand in the name of scientific progress. For more information, visit https://lfrep.com.

Press/Media Contact
Casey Angel: Director, Corporate Communications
+1 (619) 400-7990 • cangel@lfrep.com

Crain’s New York Business
For New York to truly fulfill its life sciences potential, it needs a lot more laboratory space

By Jonathan Schifrin

This summer, the New York City Economic Development Corporation announced that New York now tops the US in life science jobs and funding, surpassing longtime industry leaders in Greater Boston and San Francisco Bay Area. The city is home to over 150,000 jobs in the sector and more than 5,000 biotechnology businesses. It’s a milestone that caps a decade of leadership from both the government and private sector to make New York a global public health research hub, including the City’s $1 billion commitment to boost the industry.

For years, policymakers have reinforced the growth of a sector that builds naturally on the assets that New York has always possessed: a large and diverse talent pool, world-class academic research institutions, and a steady flow of venture capital funding. One of the last remaining hurdles to supercharge the life science industry in New York is the need to accommodate for the exceptional demand in laboratory space.

As of 2021, New York City still had below 2 million square feet of lab space. Smaller cities like Boston and San Francisco offer life science users exponentially more supply—with over 30 million square feet in both markets. Closing that gap is an urgent challenge, especially when demand is skyrocketing. Leasing exceeded 400,000 square feet in 2021 compared to just over 150,000 square feet in 2020.

The good news is that developers have been stepping up in New York, where the overall square footage of space is set to nearly triple to more than 5 million by 2028, according to CBRE’s Q3 2022 NYC Life Sciences Market Report.

Current market trends in New York are similar to what our firm has seen happen in Boston, San Francisco and San Diego—rapid growth leading to market saturation in the initial clusters followed by the outward spread of the ecosystem. Just as MIT spurred the initial life science concentration in Kendall Square which then spread to the Seaport, the renowned Manhattan healthcare corridor is expanding to the city’s other boroughs.

Long Island City has emerged as a particularly attractive location for life science companies, taking advantage of the accessibility to the City’s academic and research institutions and the available space being created in former industrial facilities.

One of the newest projects that is set to come online in Long Island City is Hatch Life Sciences. At 43-10 23^rd Street, Longfellow Real Estate Partners is converting this former creative office building to 214,013 square feet of lab-ready space – set to begin pre-leasing by Q1 2023. In addition to upgrading the base building systems, Longfellow will add amenities on the first floor and 70,000 square feet of pre-built lab suites.

Gensler’s project principal on Hatch Life Sciences, Tom McGoldrick, added, “As we continue to see the repositioning of office and manufacturing buildings to expand research-capable programs in New York, we are helping our clients differentiate their real estate by prioritizing resiliency, flexibility, and wellbeing. When you combine those elements with tenant curated amenities, like Longfellow’s Elevate program, the building becomes a destination.”

The growth of New York’s life science industry represents a generational economic opportunity. Realizing this potential will take collaborative efforts, with developers partnering with local institutions, government agencies and community leaders and residents. Life science may prove to be the defining industry of this century — one with the potential to create transformative public health benefits while creating thousands of jobs for our community.

~ Jonathan Schifrin is a Senior Vice President in CBRE’s Advisory and Transaction Services Group in New York City.

(Courtesy of Crain’s New York: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/op-ed/new-york-needs-more-lab-space-fulfill-life-sciences-industrys-needs)