PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) and Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) announced that B.Labs at Cira Centre has been 50% leased to notable life science companies. These companies are both new to the Philadelphia region and growing local companies and include BriaCell, Ceptur Therapeutics, Leal Therapeutics, and Vitara Biomedical, among others.
B.Labs will open in January 2022. This new life science incubator will provide high-quality innovation, collaboration, and research space for start-up, early stage, fast-growing and established life science industry leaders. B.Labs offers tenants state-of-the-art equipment and technology; and specialized services, resources and programming powered by the PABC — all situated at the gateway to Schuylkill Yards, Brandywine and Drexel’s $3.5B, 14-acre master-planned community.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the level of interest and the quality of companies who are joining B.Labs. This demand for high-quality, flexible space is coming from a range of groups in size and maturity — all of whom see the value of being in a fully equipped space, with an unmatched blend of access to transit, talent, life science peers, healthcare and educational institutions, and the life science investor community,” said Jeff DeVuono, Executive Vice President, Life Science and Regional Managing Director at Brandywine Realty Trust.
Located at Cira Centre, with direct access to 30th Street Station, B.Labs offers tenants the trophy-class environment of one of the city’s most architecturally celebrated buildings. Cira Centre features the highest standards of health and wellness — from elevators that use air purification technology to reduce airborne bacteria and viruses — to superior indoor air quality and HVAC systems. Recent upgrades include a ground level tenant lounge, conference facilities, and coming soon — a newly renovated fitness center and restaurant and bar concept.
Coined the “Cellicon Valley,” Philadelphia has become a hotspot for life science companies. With its growing reputation for cell and gene therapy companies; expanding private capital sources; world-class institutions like Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Medicine, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; and critical access to transportation — Philadelphia continues to establish a world-leading life science ecosystem.
“The momentum of University City as the destination for top life science companies is remarkable. Having these companies among the first to operate within B.Labs, the gateway to Schuylkill Yards, is a testament to the strength and continued desirability to be in Philadelphia, a community of the best and brightest,” said Matthew Burkhardt, Director of B.Labs.
B.Labs is a part of Brandywine’s expansive Life Science development platform including more than 3 million square feet of lab and research space within its master-planned Schuylkill Yards neighborhood, and an additional 1 million square feet in the greater Philadelphia region, with plans to announce additional commitments in its other core markets of Austin, TX and Metro D.C. B.Labs incubator tenants will have the unique ability to seamlessly expand within Philadelphia’s innovation ecosystem and Brandywine’s national portfolio, along with enjoying access to Brandywine’s tenant-wide shared amenities platform.
B.Labs will open January 2022. For additional information on B.Labs, visit www.brandywinerealty.com/blabs
About Brandywine Realty Trust: Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) is one of the largest, publicly traded, full-service, integrated real estate companies in the United States with a core focus in the Philadelphia, Austin and Washington, D.C. markets. Organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT), we own, develop, lease and manage an urban, town center and transit-oriented portfolio comprising 172 properties and 24.2 million square feet as of September 30, 2021 which excludes assets held for sale. Our purpose is to shape, connect and inspire the world around us through our expertise, the relationships we foster, the communities in which we live and work, and the history we build together. For more information, please visit www.brandywinerealty.com.
About the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC)
The PABC is a nonprofit life sciences incubator-accelerator, offering state-of-the-art laboratory and office space to early stage biotech companies, as well as the Hepatitis B Foundation and Blumberg Institute. Managed by the Institute and led by a board appointed by the Foundation, PABC is home to nearly 50 small to mid-size science, research and pharmaceutical companies. The center uses a highly successful services-based approach to nurture and guide its member companies to success, advancing biotechnology, maximizing synergies among nonprofit scientists and their commercial colleagues, and launching new ideas and discoveries that will make a difference. PABC is near Doylestown in Bucks County, in the heart of the Philadelphia-New Jersey pharma belt. For more information, please visit www.pabiotechbc.org.
Media Contacts:
Brandywine Realty Trust
Laura Miller
Laura.Miller@bdnreit.com
(215) 435 – 7211
Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center
Edward Tate
edward.tate@hepb.org
(267) 934 – 3475
