The JBG Cos. of Chevy Chase and Scheer Partners of Rockville have announced a joint venture to develop and invest in life sciences and laboratory real estate throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, with plans to leverage $100 million in equity funds to pursue up to $300 million in investments.
The fund will be capitalized with equity from existing and future JBG investment funds, Scheer Partners, its affiliates and the state government.
‘‘The creation of the Greater Washington Life Sciences Fund is a natural platform for us to utilize our vast knowledge of life sciences facilities to capitalize on key investment and development,” Robert Scheer, president and founder of Scheer Partners, said in a statement. ‘‘We are thrilled to have a firm like The JBG Cos. join us in this endeavor. JBG’s track record in securing superior commercial real estate investment returns is widely recognized.”
The fund marks a redoubling of Scheer’s core interests after hiring an analyst last year to help the company develop a new strategic plan. Scheer has long concentrated on investing in Maryland’s Interstate 270 bio-research corridor and more than 75 percent of its business is in building, leasing and owning space in the life science industry.
The firm was a pioneer in developing landmark properties for MedImmune Inc. in Gaithersburg, and Human Genome Sciences Inc. and the nonprofit Institute for Genomic Sciences in Rockville.
Now, the new fund will piggyback on booming demand for lab space around the Capital Beltway.
‘‘Robert and his team have deep relationships and expertise in the life sciences real estate market that will provide an excellent complement to our presence in this region,” said Matt Kelly, managing director of JBG. ‘‘We’re hopeful that this relationship will introduce specialized opportunities that we might not otherwise have seen and create a responsive, agile player in this sector at a time in the market when certainty trades at a premium.”
The fund also will benefit from plans by Maryland officials to launch major new investments in bioscience to reinvigorate the research clusters along I-270 and in Baltimore. Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) touted a $1 million investment by the Department of Business and Economic Development in the JBG⁄Scheer fund on Monday, when he announced his $1.1 billion Bio 2020 initiative.
Columbia Gatewayboom continues
The Columbia Gateway office park boom continues - at the expense of Prince George’s County - as Corporate Office Properties Trust announced that satellite systems firm Integral Systems has leased an entire five-story building that the developer expects to complete by February next year.
The deal follows database marketing firm Merkle’s decision last year to relocate from its Landover headquarters to a new office building that it hired Manekin LLC to develop in the Columbia business complex.
Integral will vacate its 90,000-square-foot space in Lanham and make COPT’s 131,451-square-foot Class A building its new headquarters. Integral is one of COPT’s larger tenants in Colorado Springs, Colo., where the Columbia company owns a dozen office buildings and is master developer for a 272-acre business park at the entrance of the Colorado Springs Airport.
The 630-acre Columbia Gateway center has become one of the region’s biggest office markets since it opened in 1986 at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Route 175 along the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Before Merkle’s move, the park was home to more than 50 companies employing 17,000 people and occupying more than 4 million square feet of office and retail space.
Trammell Crow Co. of Dallas also is developing a 199,967-square-foot, seven-story Class A building at Columbia Gateway. And Wells Real Estate Investment Trust of Atlanta last year acquired the 248,000-square-foot headquarters of Micros Systems, the hospitality software company, there for about $62.1 million, or $250 per square foot.
WRIT nets $15 millionon Virginia property sale
Washington Real Estate Investment of Rockville said it sold Sullyfield Commerce Center and The Earhart Building, in Chantilly, Va., for $41 million. The industrial⁄flex properties, totaling 336,000 square feet, were acquired in 2001 and 1996, respectively.
WRIT achieved a net book gain of $15 million on the sale of the properties and a combined 13 percent unlevered internal rate of return during the ownership periods.
Germantown office buildingsells for $5 million
Century South Investors sold 20111 Century Blvd., a 21,108-square-foot office building in Germantown, for $5 million, according to Transwestern Bethesda’s Asset Investment Sales Group, which brokered the deal.
The single-story property traded to 20111 Century Boulevard LLC for $237 per square foot. The building, completed in 2003, is set at I-270 and Route 118. It was fully leased at the time of sale.
Mixed-use Bethesda Lane opens
Bethesda Lane at Bethesda Row, which is to feature 43,000 square feet of new retail and restaurants, 180 luxury apartment residences and 244 new retail-dedicated parking spaces, opened recently with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that attracted Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and other officials.
Federal Realty Investment Trust’s completed development of the 1.7-acre former Giant Food site rounds out the seven blocks of existing retail, restaurants and office space encompassing Bethesda Row.
Retailers and restaurants include lucy, The Little Shoe Box, Ginger, BlueMercury, Urban Country, Urban Chic, Dolcezza Gelato, Le Pain Quotidien, Cork & Fork, Salon Cielo, Lebanese Taverna and Redwood Restaurant and Bar.
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