Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Kowa signs up for space in life science center

By Marc Songini

Another tenant is moving into the Center for Life Science in Boston, which is now nearly at capacity, according to its owner. The Center for Life Science Boston is a 700,000-square-foot research center with laboratory and office space in the Longwood Medical Area — a research and collaboration hub for life sciences companies and the Harvard University-affiliated teaching hospitals.

This past week, the center’s owner, San Diego-based BioMed Realty Trust Inc., announced that it had signed another lease, this one with the Japan-based Kowa Co. Ltd. This contract, following a recent lease expansion with Children’s Hospital Boston, means the facility is now 91 percent full, claimed the company.

Kowa Co., one of the largest privately owned firms in Japan, will lease the 17th floor, with some 24,400 square feet of laboratory and office space. The company intends to use the space to enhance its collaborative research efforts in cardiovascular diseases.

BioMed Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust catering to the life sciences industry. Its tenants mostly include biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms, as well as scientific research institutions and government agencies. It owns or has investments in 69 properties, with 112 buildings, primarily in Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.