Category: News

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.

###

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)

Longfellow Real Estate Partners Announce Agreement to Enter into Joint Venture with PSP Investments & Norges Bank Investment Management

New joint venture set to invest in and develop innovative life science real estate in key UK markets

London, UK (18/10/2022) – Longfellow Real Estate Partners announced today it has exchanged agreements to enter into a partnership with the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) and Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM). The partnership between the three parties is expected to complete in November and is targeting a £1.5BN venture focused on investing in life science and innovation real estate across the UK, with a particular emphasis on the Golden Triangle markets of Cambridge, Oxford, and London.

The Golden Triangle has developed into one of the leading innovation clusters in the world, anchored by globally significant universities, research institutes and teaching hospitals, a high-quality talent pool, access to capital, and a broad range of exciting start-up, growth and blue-chip companies.

Within the initial phase of the partnership, NBIM will join PSP Investments and Longfellow in the ownership of Capital Park Cambridge, which was acquired in May 2022. This 42-acre campus, located in Cambridge, UK, provides approximately 245,000 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. Cambridge is a high-functioning ecosystem where research excellence, a deep base of skills and an open culture combine with a sophisticated investment environment, and the UK’s most mature life science real estate market to create a dynamic environment for industry-academic-clinical collaboration and innovation.

“The joint venture with Norges Bank Investment Management and PSP Investments is evidence of the strength of Longfellow’s life science real estate platform and focus,” said Longfellow Real Estate Partners Co-Founder & CEO, Adam Sichol. “Together we see the opportunity to create thoughtful, world class space to support a range of occupiers across the UK’s life science and innovation ecosystems.”

Jayesh Patel, Head of UK Real Estate, Norges Bank Investment Management commented, “We look forward to working with Longfellow and PSP Investments over the long-term in the UK life science sector.”

“We are pleased to have reached agreement to welcome NBIM to the life sciences partnership with Longfellow,” said Stéphane Jalbert, Managing Director, Head of Asia-Pacific and Europe, Real Estate Investments, PSP Investments. “This venture will allow us to invest at scale in the fast-evolving life science sector, helping creating ecosystems where corporates, universities, and start-ups are forming clusters that enable knowledge sharing and innovation.”

###

About Norges Bank Investment Management
Norges Bank Investment Management is the asset management division of Norges Bank, the Norwegian central bank. As manager of the Government Pension Fund Global, its mission is to safeguard and build financial wealth for future generations in Norway. The fund is invested globally in equity, fixed income, real estate and renewable energy infrastructure. It had investments worth 11,657 billion kroner, or $1.2 trillion, as of 30 June 2022.

About PSP Investments
PSP Investments is one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers with approximately C$230.5 billion of net assets as of March 31, 2022. It manages a diversified global portfolio of investments in public financial markets, private equity, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources and private debt. Established in 1999, PSP Investments manages net contributions to the pension funds of the federal Public Service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Reserve Force. Headquartered in Ottawa, PSP Investments has its principal business office in Montreal and offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. For more information, visit www.investpsp.com or follow PSP Investments on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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 Contacts
Maria Constantinescu – PSP Investments
Director, External Communications
Phone: +1 (514) 218-3795
E-mail: media@investpsp.ca

Casey Angel – Longfellow
Director, Corporate Communications
Phone: +1 (619) 400-7990
E-mail: cangel@lfrep.com

Longfellow Real Estate Partners Announces Partnership with Celebrity Chef Richard Blais and Highly Anticipated Sorrento Mesa Restaurant, California English   

SAN DIEGO, CA (September 28, 2022) – Longfellow Real Estate Partners (Longfellow), the largest privately held investor and developer of life science buildings in the world, announced their upcoming partnership with celebrity Chef Richard Blais, who is currently co-hosting FOX’s hit show Next Level Chef. Chef Blais, known for creating and operating some of the area’s most popular and successful restaurants, will bring his imaginative flair to the first restaurant in the partnership, California English, a space where professionals and neighbors can gather in the thriving Sorrento Mesa district.

Set to open its doors in early 2023, California English will serve as a place where the relaxed meets the refined and SoCal meets Great Britain in a unique experience for the San Diego submarket. Chef Blais will present a classic menu featuring the highest quality Californian ingredients in this 6,000-square-foot, European-inspired eatery. Patrons can lounge on the expansive lawn, sip inventive cocktails at the veranda bar, or savor a tasty dish in the quaint interior.

“I’m incredibly excited to partner with Longfellow and be a part of their positive additions to the San Diego area and present my first full-service restaurant with them,” said Chef Richard Blais. “California English will be a fun take on the classic and casual bistros of Europe presented through the lens of Southern California’s produce and people. With an all-day menu perfect for a leisurely lunch, post work dinner meeting or a date night with friends or family, I can’t wait to continue to create and cook for the San Diego food scene.”

The first restaurant in the partnership will open at Longfellow’s Biovista development on the corner of Mira Mesa Boulevard & Scranton Road, conveniently located off the I-805 and I-5 Freeways in the heart of Sorrento Mesa. In addition to California English, the partnership between Longfellow and Chef Blais is set to grow with another restaurant scheduled for the following year at Longfellow’s upcoming development Bioterra, located less than a mile away on Oberlin Drive.

“Our team is thrilled to welcome Chef Richard Blais and his newest restaurant, California English, to Longfellow’s campus next year,” said Nick Frasco, Chief Investment Officer West & Managing Director at Longfellow Real Estate Partners. “Developments like Biovista and Bioterra thrive on the forward-thinking live-work-play campus model, and the partnership between Longfellow and Mr. Blais will not only enhance these campuses, but the entire community with these world-class dining options. California English is a testament to Longfellow’s continued investment in the region.”

Open to the public and the community’s foremost innovators, the dining experience becomes the newest addition to Longfellow’s 4+ million square foot portfolio in San Diego, which strives for a wholistic experience in its developments. California English is also just minutes away from Longfellow’s award-winning SOVA Science District campus, which includes an amenity center complete with an on-site gym, and additional dining and beverage options, including New English Brewing, The Craft Taco Truck, and The Coffee Cart Café.

From the interior design to the enticing menu, Longfellow and Chef Blais are prepared to embrace the San Diego lifestyle with English charm. For more information on the grand opening of California English, visit www.california-english.squarespace.com and follow on social media at @californiaenglishsd.

###

About Chef Richard Blais
Richard Blais is a successful chef, James Beard nominated cookbook author and television personality. Widely recognized from Bravo’s Top Chef series, Richard was the winner of the inaugural Top Chef All-Stars Season. Currently, he co-hosts FOX’s Next Level Chef with Gordon Ramsey and Nyesha Arrington.

About Longfellow Real Estate Partners
Longfellow Real Estate Partners is a real estate investment company founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 2009. With over 180 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, Longfellow – Corporate Communications
+1 (619) 400-7990 • cangel@lfrep.com

The rapidly growing Philadelphia life sciences sector is hungry for lab and manufacturing space. Real estate developers are meeting that demand with ambitious projects to build, rebuild, and overbuild sites to produce facilities that will retain and attract life sciences companies.

These projects are taking advantage of the favorable infrastructure that made Philly a manufacturing powerhouse throughout the 20th century. The reinvention of the Budd Campus as a life sciences manufacturing destination is a shining example. Plymouth Group, in collaboration with Centerbridge Partners, is transforming the former steel processing giant into 2 million square feet of state-of-the art research and manufacturing space. The Budd Campus continues to grow as Colliers Life Sciences, Inc oversees leasing of the facility.

Pennovation Works

The Pennovation Works site has been “an incubator for industry and innovation in the Philadelphia area for over 200 years”. In 2010, the nearby University of Pennsylvania reinvigorated an old paint factory and chemical research facility into the Pennovation Center, a 58,000 square foot incubator for startups originating at UPenn and throughout the region.

The Pennovation Works site also features the new Pennovation Lab, a graduate space appealing to promising early-stage companies that have outgrown incubators.

In light of the growing successes of the CGT initiatives of UPenn and the Gene Therapy Program, an additional $365 million plan is in the works to expand Pennovation Works incubation and growth space specifically for innovations in the life sciences. Most of the new space will be used for research and development, but 65,000 of the 500,000 square feet have been carved out for manufacturing.

This growth project is led by Longfellow Real Estate Partners. Construction of the building, at 34th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue, is slated to begin next year, with an estimated opening in 2025.

Full article courtesy of BioBuzz: https://biobuzz.io/5-real-estate-development-projects-to-watch-in-philadelphia/