Alexandria Real Estate Equities Completes First Phase of Collaborative Life Science Park in New York City

NEW YORK, Dec. 2, 1010 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE) today announced the completion and delivery of the first phase of the Alexandria Center™ for Life Science – New York City.  A world-class life science park designed to be a magnetic international hub for scientific, entrepreneurial and commercial collaboration, the Alexandria Center is located at 450 East 29th Street in Manhattan.

Dignitaries attending the launch ceremony later this morning will be New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Speaker of the New York State Assembly Sheldon Silver, Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, New York City Councilman Daniel R. Garodnick, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Steele, and local Community Board No. 6 Chair Mark Thompson.  Maria Freire, Ph.D., President of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, will deliver keynote remarks.  Others attending the ceremony will include Alexandria's senior management team, honored guests, as well as those who have been instrumental in the successful completion of phase one.

"New York City has all the makings of a major center for commercial life science – an unparalleled workforce, top academic and medical institutions and prime access to investment capital – but we've lacked sufficient state-of-the-art commercial lab space to capitalize on those advantages.  The new Alexandria Center for Life Science is addressing that need in a major way," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The new world-class complex, which is already attracting both established and startup entities, will foster innovation within the growing life science industry, create jobs and help diversify New York City's economy.  Alexandria Real Estate Equities has a proven track-record of developing enormously successful commercial life science campuses around the nation, and its investment in the new center signals a major vote of confidence in New York City's future."

The Alexandria Center, the first and only premier life science park in New York City, will connect and foster unique and innovative collaborations among world-renowned academic and medical institutions, preeminent scientific talent, top-tier investment capital, and the broad and diverse commercial life science industry – all designed to foster the translation of promising new life science discoveries "from bench to bedside." The state-of-the art 310,000 square-foot, 15-floor facility is the first of a potential three building life science campus, which upon  completion, would ultimately consist of approximately 1.1 million rentable square feet.

"Collaboration has played a critical role in advancing the most important scientific discoveries.  We have brought to New York City a one-of-a-kind, vibrant science park which will enable the collaborative development of future important safe and effective products to benefit humankind and which are ultimately the only logical path to contain and control healthcare costs," said Joel S. Marcus, CEO, Chairman and Founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.  "The Alexandria Center will help shape New York City as a key international center for collaborative exchange and innovation in the international life science community, furthering our strategy of creating first–in-class life science clusters."

The Alexandria Center is substantially fully leased or committed and has attracted leaders in the industry such as Eli Lilly & Company, whose wholly-owned subsidiary focused on oncology, ImClone Systems, is headquartered in the building; Kadmon Pharmaceuticals LLC, a leading-edge private biopharmaceutical company focused on collaborating with academic centers and commercial life science enterprises at the forefront of innovation to pioneer the development of novel medicines in the areas of oncology, infectious diseases and immunology; Firmenich, the leading European-based international producer of fragrance and flavors; a world-class neuroscience translational research entity; as well as a top-tier big pharma scientific collaboration unit for therapeutic innovation.  In addition to these life science entities, the Alexandria Center will house representatives from leading pharmaceutical and traditional venture capital firms.  Together, these diverse life science entities will seed the formation of a vibrant cluster within this world-class campus.

In today's keynote address at the launch ceremony, Dr. Freire will comment on the importance of translational research and how it leads to faster commercialization.  Dr. Freire will note that, "Translational research transforms lab discoveries into novel solutions for diagnosing, preventing and curing disease. Working efficiently and innovatively to link groundbreaking scientific research with the practice of medicine reduces the time it takes to bring patients the treatments they need and helps contain healthcare costs."

The Alexandria Center is at the forefront of innovation, design and sustainability.  The core and shell building design and construction are LEED™ Silver certified.  The campus was purposefully created with Alexandria's unparalleled expertise and experience in understanding the unique needs of the broad and diverse life science sector.  With its adjacent location to pre-eminent research and medical institutions, renowned universities and top financial services companies, the Alexandria Center has quickly established itself as an international destination for the life science community.  With sweeping East River views, the open design of the campus fosters the collaborative environment sought by the life science community in its quest to develop the therapies and medical products of tomorrow, while operating in an environmentally sustainable and responsible manner.  To encourage collaborative exchange, Apella™, Event Space at Alexandria Center, is a state-of-the art digital conference and event center designed to be the destination for the most important corporate and social events, as well as premier life science industry events.  The Alexandria Center also features two outstanding culinary establishments – Riverpark™, a Tom Colicchio Restaurant, and 'wichcraft,' Tom Colicchio's artisanal sandwich shop, which will serve the New York City community.  

About Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., Landlord of Choice to the Life Science Industry®, is the largest owner and preeminent REIT focused principally on cluster development through the ownership, operation, management, selective redevelopment, development, and acquisition of properties containing life science laboratory space.  Alexandria is the leading provider of high-quality, environmentally sustainable real estate, technical infrastructure, and services to the broad and diverse life science industry.  Client tenants include institutional (universities and independent not-for-profit institutions), pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, product, service, and government agencies.  Alexandria's operating platform is based on the principle of "clustering" with assets and operations located adjacent to life science entities driving growth and technological advances within each cluster.  

SOURCE Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.