NY becoming biotech real estate hotspot; Slate Grocery to buy $425M US portfolio

S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of real estate news stories published throughout the week.

The New York City region, which is home to nearly 5,100 life-sciences companies, offers ample opportunity for real estate developers, said Simone Development Cos. President Joseph Simone.

There is more than 5.6 million square feet of new laboratory space under development in the tristate area, and in recent years, New York City clarified its land-use rules to permit the building of more lab and research spaces.

Still, the city's life-sciences real estate market, with 4.9 million square feet of existing space, is in its early days compared to leading markets. Boston and San Francisco each have more than 30 million square feet of such real estate, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Colliers.

Taconic Partners LLC is among in-city investors planning to firm up their footprint in biotechnology laboratories and other life-sciences space. It plans to spend over $250 million to redevelop the office property at 309 E. 94th St. to include 200,000 square feet of lab space, the publication reported, citing Taconic Executive Vice President Matthew Weir. Taconic will form a new subsidiary named Elevate Research Properties, which will hold the company's life-sciences portfolio, including three under-development laboratories.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., a real estate investment trust that owns biotechnology spaces, opened this week a commercial life-sciences campus in New York City called Alexandria LaunchLabs at Columbia.

CHART OF THE WEEK: US REITs' May capital raising lowest so far in 2022

⮞ Capital market activity by U.S. equity REITs in May plunged to $427.0 million, a 94.5% month-over-month drop, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

⮞ All the capital raised in May came through common equity offerings.

⮞ Rexford Industrial Realty Inc. emerged with the largest haul, accounting for more than 60% of the month's total capital offerings.

Portfolio deals

* Slate Grocery REIT will purchase a 2.5 million-square-foot grocery-anchored property portfolio consisting of 14 assets across seven U.S. states for $425 million.

* SWBC Real Estate LLC off-loaded five multifamily properties in its Texas-based Royalton portfolio for $350 million. The Dallas-Fort Worth area properties, out of the 1,437-unit portfolio, were sold to Lightbulb Capital Group, while Brixton Capital LP bought the Austin asset.

Industrial trade

* Property developer Creation divested the 860,602-square-foot 10 West Commerce Park industrial facility in the Phoenix area to a joint venture between Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. and Cohen Asset Management Inc. for roughly $130 million, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

* CBRE Group Inc. unit Trammell Crow Co. sold the Butterfield 5 Technology Park industrial campus in Morgan Hill, Calif., to Invesco Ltd. for $119 million, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported. The five-building property spans 410,000 square feet on a 24-acre site, the publication said.

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