Wells Fargo lends $74m on Boston laboratory building

King Street Developers and joint venture partner The Carlyle Group have purchased a laboratory building in Waltham, Massachusetts for more than $104m with a $74.2m acquisition first mortgage loan from Wells Fargo.

The developer and investment group purchased the three-story, 180,000 sq ft property at 830 Winter Street from Intercontinental Real Estate, which bought the asset in 2005 for $51.3m from cancer pharmaceutical company Praecis Pharmaceuticals.

The latter company purchased the shell of the building for $41.5m in July of 2000 to serve as its headquarters, months after it was erected, building out the interior to suit its needs. The company was ultimately bought out in December 2006 by British multinational GlaxoSmithKline for $54.8m.

Boston-based King Street Developers is known mainly for the development of multi-tenant centers in the Boston suburbs of Cambridge, Waltham and Lexington. They centers are focused on the advancement in the areas of life science and clean technology. A previous project from the developer included the repositioning of  200 Cambridge Park Drive, a single-tenant laboratory and office building, into a multi-tenant life science center.

The developer employs both value-add and core-plus strategies, with the latter seeking returns from current-income coupled with upside from leasing and repositioning. Current tenants at the property include biotech firm Immunogen, which occupies about 109,000 sq ft, and life company Histogenics.

Wells Fargo held the number one spot on the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Commercial Real Estate/Multi-family Finance Firms – Annual Origination Volumes report in 2014, with a total of $50.3bn of financings. The bank lender has held the top spot since 2009, after sharing the accolade with Bank of America in 2008.

The life science umbrella includes pharmaceutical and bio-tech firms developing “life saving” drugs, makers of medical devices and diagnostic tools, while clean technology companies work with renewable materials and energy sources.