When Bristol Myers Squibb signed a long-term lease for 427,000 square feet of research and development space at Alexandria Real Estate Equities' Alexandria Point campus, it marked one of the largest lease signings of the past year in San Diego’s already fast-growing life science neighborhoods.
Rupert Vessey, executive vice president of research and early development at Bristol Myers Squibb, said the New York-based company was looking to bring existing teams from across San Diego together at a new, cutting-edge research hub.
“Having a single campus will accelerate collaboration among our company’s research teams and will foster a flexible working ecosystem to further BMS’ mission to advance medicines for patients who need them most,” Vessey said in a statement at the time of the March 2022 lease agreement.
For the sheer size of a lease involving one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, in one of the nation’s largest biotech-focused regions, the transaction earned a 2023 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by a panel of local real estate professionals.
The lease was a coup for Pasadena, California-based Alexandria, which is among the nation’s largest holders of biotech real estate. The real estate investment trust owns properties totaling more than 74 million square feet, including 13 million square feet in San Diego. At the time of the Bristol Myers signing, Alexandria officials said this was the second-largest life science lease by square footage in the REIT’s nearly 30-year history.
About the lease: Bristol Myers Squibb signed a lease for 427,000 square feet at the Alexandria Point campus. The property is under development and expected to include more than 2 million square feet of biotech lab and office space, with 100,000 square feet of support amenities at full build-out.
What the judges said: “The economic impact and research stature of this deal will provide huge dividends to our region for decades to come,” said judge Liza Strom, executive vice president at brokerage Strom Commercial Real Estate. Strom said the pharmaceutical giant’s leasing raises the neighborhood’s status as a life science hub, helping San Diego compete with other prominent biotech regions such as Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area.
They made it happen: The lease was arranged by Bret Gossett of landlord Alexandria Real Estate Equities, represented by Brian Starck and Jack Hughson of brokerage Cushman & Wakefield and Ryan Egli and Trevor O’Sullivan of brokerage CBRE. The tenant was represented by Greg Bisconti of brokerage JLL, formerly with Cushman & Wakefield.