Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Announces 15-Year Lease with ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for its Corporate and R&D Headquarters at the Alexandria Center™ at Kendall Square

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), the leading owner, operator, and developer of high-quality, sustainable real estate for the broad and diverse life science industry, is pleased to announce that ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading, fully integrated oncology company, will establish its state-of-the-art corporate and research and development headquarters at the Alexandria Center™ at Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ARIAD has executed a 15-year lease with an affiliate of Alexandria for approximately 244,000 rentable square feet, or 63%, of 75/125 Binney Street, an approximately 386,000 rentable square foot life science facility, with additional potential expansion opportunities through June 30, 2014. ARIAD's decision to locate its headquarters at 75/125 Binney Street affirms the Alexandria Center at Kendall Square's reputation as one of the world's most desirable locations for life science innovation and collaboration.

75/125 Binney Street will facilitate ARIAD's continued discovery, development and commercialization activities in the oncology field. ARIAD's approximately 20-year track record of scientific excellence is based on the company's computational structure-based drug design platform, which has led to several internally discovered, molecularly targeted product candidates for drug-resistant or difficult-to-treat cancers. On December 14, 2012, ARIAD announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its drug, Iclusig™ (ponatinib), three months ahead of the action date under the FDA's accelerated approval program. Iclusig was approved for the treatment of adult patients with chronic, accelerated, or blast phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) that is resistant or intolerant to prior tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy or Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) that is resistant or intolerant to prior TKI therapy.

"As ARIAD continues to expand its presence both here in Massachusetts, as well as globally, we are pleased to be working with Alexandria on the construction of our new headquarters, which is expected to open by the beginning of 2015," stated Harvey J. Berger, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ARIAD.  "Maintaining our corporate presence in Cambridge reaffirms our commitment to this world-renowned life sciences community and continued collaboration with leading academic scientists in the greater Cambridge area. We look forward to our new location in Kendall Square, not far from where we founded the Company." 

"We are honored that ARIAD and its senior management team, all of whom we greatly admire, respect, and have known almost since the founding of the company, have chosen a long-term relationship with Alexandria and the world-class 75/125 Binney Street facility for its headquarters location," said Joel S. Marcus, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder of Alexandria. "ARIAD's corporate and R&D headquarters will powerfully complement the vibrant and collaborative ecosystem at the Alexandria Center at Kendall Square, Cambridge's newest destination for breakthrough life science innovation and collaboration."

Alexandria expects to deliver the 75/125 Binney Street facility to ARIAD in the first quarter of 2015. Consistent with the company's strategy, as an investment-grade REIT, of diversifying and broadening its capital structure and matching specific sources of capital with specific uses, Alexandria will fund this development beginning in 2013 on a "leverage-neutral basis."

75/125 Binney Street, the second ground-up development at the Alexandria Center at Kendall Square, will be an approximately 386,000 rentable square foot life science facility at the forefront of innovation and collaboration. The main façade features custom textured rainscreen panels and windows alternating in an artistic manner reminiscent of DNA patterns. Designed as two towers, the flagship facility is separated by multiple unique, architectural glass terraces purposefully designed to enhance collaboration. These elevated convergence spaces will span a pedestrian corridor between Binney Street and the landscaped Rogers Street Park. The City of Cambridge is also commencing the development of Rogers Street Park, which will provide a lush green space for Alexandria's client tenants and the neighboring community.

Located in the heart of Cambridge's internationally acclaimed Kendall Square innovation cluster, the Alexandria Center at Kendall Square will ultimately become an 11-acre, world-class science park featuring four ground-up first-in-class life science developments – 50 Binney Street, 75/125 Binney Street, 100 Binney Street, and 225 Binney Street – aggregating approximately 1.7 million rentable square feet of high-quality laboratory/office space, as well as new residential developments totaling approximately 200,000 rentable square feet. The first development, an approximately 305,000 rentable square foot build-to-suit for Biogen Idec, Inc. at 225 Binney Street, is currently under construction and is anticipated to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2013. With a plethora of collaborative amenities including a two-acre landscaped park, world-class restaurants, state-of-the-art meeting and event spaces, high-quality hotels, and wellness centers, the Alexandria Center at Kendall Square provides leading life science entities with a unique opportunity to drive productivity, accelerate innovation, and recruit and retain the brightest scientific minds.

Alexandria is the dominant life science owner and operator in the Greater Boston cluster with approximately 3.4 million rentable square feet of high-quality laboratory/office space located adjacent to world-renowned academic and medical institutions. Alexandria currently serves approximately 100 life science client tenants in the Greater Boston cluster including Abbott Laboratories, Biogen Idec Inc., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc., Eisai Co., Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline plc, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Novartis AG, and UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc.

About Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), is the largest and leading investment-grade REIT focused principally on owning, operating, and developing high-quality, sustainable real estate for the broad and diverse life science industry. Founded in 1994, Alexandria was the first REIT to identify and pursue the laboratory niche and has since had the first-mover advantage in the core life science cluster locations including Greater Boston, San Francisco Bay, San Diego, New York City, Seattle, Suburban Washington, D.C., and Research Triangle Park. Alexandria's high-credit client tenants span the life science industry, including renowned academic and medical institutions, multinational pharmaceutical companies, public and private biotechnology entities, U.S. government research agencies, medical device companies, clean technology companies, venture capitalists, and life science product and service companies. As the recognized real estate partner of the life science industry, Alexandria has a superior track record in driving client tenant productivity and innovation through its best-in-class laboratory and office space, collaborative locations adjacent to leading academic and medical institutions, unparalleled life science real estate expertise and services, and longstanding and expansive network in the life science community, which we believe result in higher occupancy levels, longer lease terms, higher rental income, higher returns, and greater long-term asset value. For more information, please visit www.are.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws.  Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.