by Navy Yard Philadelphia
October 11, 2018
Categories: Development Updates, Life Sciences, Tenants,
Liberty Property Trust and Synterra Partners is set to break ground early next month on a 95,000 square foot build-to-suit office and laboratory building for WuXi AppTec’s Advanced Therapies Business Unit (WuXi ATU) at the Navy Yard. The new facility located at 400 Rouse Boulevard, designed to achieve LEED® certification, will be the fourth building that WuXi ATU occupies at the Navy Yard and the third build-to-suit developed by Liberty for the company. When the new building is complete in late 2019, WuXi ATU will become Liberty’s largest tenant in the campus, occupying in excess of 380,000 square feet of space.
“WuXi was one of the first companies to locate to the Navy Yard more than fourteen years ago and throughout that time our strong partnership will have produced four cutting-edge facilities,” said Brian Cohen, vice president and market officer for Liberty Property Trust. “Their continued success has helped to pave the way for creating one of the most highly concentrated clusters of privately leased life science space in Philadelphia. With their fourth building soon to be underway, WuXi ATU’s growth offers an excellent example of the Navy Yard’s appeal to leading-edge companies and its unique ability to attract and retain knowledgeable workers as well as accommodate long-term business expansion.”
“The market demands for testing are increasing very quickly in advanced therapies. WuXi will more than double our testing capacity to support our cell and gene therapy clients,” says Felix Hsu, SVP and Global Head of Advanced Therapies. “WuXi’s facility in the Navy Yard has grown from one to a campus of four buildings, and employment here has increased from 150 people to more than 600 people and growing.”
The new building at 400 Rouse Boulevard, designed by DIGSAU, anchors the central intersection of Rouse and League Island Boulevards. Spanning longer than a city block, it will feature ripples of concrete and glass, creating a vibrant, animated urban façade. Expertly crafted wood elements will adorn vital points of entry creating a warmth and detail that contrasts the solidity and scale of the 95,000 square-foot structure. WuXi Advanced Therapies was represented by Kyle Greiert and Greg Soffian from Savills Studley in the transaction.
“WuXi’s continued growth in Philadelphia at the Navy Yard reinforces the city’s standing as one of the nation’s leading innovation hubs,” said City of Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. “We congratulate WuXi on this announcement of its fourth cutting-edge facility at the Navy Yard, and look forward to the creation of additional highly-skilled, high-paying jobs in Philadelphia.”
In addition to the new facility, WuXi Advanced Therapies occupies three other Liberty buildings at the Navy Yard. In 2004 Liberty completed its first building at the Navy Yard for WuXi ATU at 4751 League Island Boulevard, comprised of 82,000 square feet housing its early phase clinical manufacturing and testing operations. In 2014, WuXi ATU expanded into 55,000 square feet at 4000 S. 26th Street to accommodate the growing demand for non-viral cell therapy manufacturing. Two years later, Liberty finished its second build-to-suit for the company, a 150,000 square foot facility located at 4701 League Island Boulevard. The site, one of the largest facilities in the world for the GMP manufacturing of viral vectors, provides late phase/commercial capacity.
“Philadelphia is one of the most dynamic life sciences and healthcare industry centers in the nation. As one of the first tenants within the Navy Yard’s community of R&D enterprises, WuXi AppTec has long been at the forefront of innovation in Philadelphia,” said John Grady, President of PIDC. “The Navy Yard offers WuXi a unique environment to support the growth its company, and is a place where their employees thrive. We are thrilled to celebrate WuXi’s success with the groundbreaking of this new building.”
Life Sciences at the Navy Yard
The Navy Yard is home to one of the highest concentration of privately leased life science space in the city of Philadelphia with more than 800,000 square feet. The tenants span a wide variety of specialties including a large cluster of leading-edge companies like WuXi Advanced Therapies, devoted to cell and gene therapy. As a result, the Navy Yard is a hub for attracting top talent in the life sciences fields with more than 2,500 employees in this sector working on the campus. The diversity among these companies encompasses large corporate offices (GSK), established and emerging companies (WuXi AppTec, Iroko Pharmaceuticals, Adaptimmune and Coriell Life Sciences), educational institutions (Vincera Institute, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals), and related capital ventures (Phoenix IP Ventures and Ben Franklin Technology Partners) among others.
The Navy Yard
The Navy Yard is considered the most successful redevelopment of a former military facility in the country. A thriving riverfront neighborhood, the Navy Yard currently features more than 7.5 million square feet of buildings housing more than 13,500 employees working at over 150 companies. Home to historic structures and new high-performance and LEED certified development, the Navy Yard offers diverse, flexible building choices with varying heights, vintages, and floorplates, all powered by a nationally-recognized microgrid and oriented around miles of riverfront access and world-class open space. Future growth will support up to 10 million square feet of commercial and residential development. PIDC, Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation, is the master developer of the Navy Yard. For more information, please visit www.navyyard.org.
Liberty at the Navy Yard
Liberty is the master private developer at the Navy Yard and currently owns fifteen buildings totaling more than 1.4 million square feet. The majority of its properties reside in the Navy Yard Corporate Center, a master planned section of the urban campus featuring state-of-the-art, sustainable multi-tenant and build-to-suit office and commercial space owned and developed by Liberty Property/Synterra, L.P., a joint venture between Liberty Property Trust and Synterra Partners. During the last fifteen years, Liberty has developed twelve properties in the Navy Yard Corporate Center for an investment of approximately $273 million. Additionally, at the Navy Yard, Liberty has developed five other buildings outside the Corporate Center representing an additional investment of $119 million.
About Liberty Property Trust
Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LPT) is a leader in commercial real estate, serving customers in the United States and United Kingdom through the development, acquisition, ownership and management of superior industrial and office properties. Liberty’s 103 million square foot portfolio provides productive work environments for 1,200 tenants.
About Synterra
Synterra Partners is a local real estate development company founded by William Wilson in 1996. The firm has an extensive portfolio of projects that include hotels and resorts, commercial and retail developments both domestic and international. Synterra Partners has earned its extraordinary reputation by working successfully with public and private organizations to create innovative strategies for complex development projects.
About WuXi Advanced Therapies
The Advanced Therapies business unit of WuXi AppTec is a global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) dedicated to accelerating and transforming development, manufacturing and commercialization of cell, gene, and other advanced therapies through enabling technologies, platforms and integrated testing to the benefit of patients worldwide. For more information, contact https://advancedtherapies.com
About PIDC
PIDC is Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation. A non-profit founded in 1958 by the City of Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, PIDC’s mission is to spur investment, support business growth, and foster developments that create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, and drive growth to every corner of Philadelphia. Over the last 60 years, PIDC has invested more than $14 billion of financing and more than 3,000 acres of land sales – which has leveraged over $25 billion in total investment and assisted in retaining and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in Philadelphia. For more information about PIDC, visit www.PIDCphila.com and follow us @PIDCphila on Twitter.