Cresa Boston Partners with Generation Bio to Find New RES Manufacturing Facility

The Boston office of Cresa, the world’s largest occupier-focused commercial real estate firm, announced today that it has negotiated a long-term lease commitment for over 100,000 SF at Centerpoint, located at 41 Seyon Street in Waltham, Mass. on behalf of Generation Bio Co., a biotechnology company innovating genetic medicines to provide durable, redosable treatments for potentially hundreds of millions of patients living with rare and prevalent diseases. While its headquarters will remain in Cambridge, Generation Bio will use the new space to build an in-house cGMP- (current good manufacturing practice) compliant facility to scale closed-ended DNA (ceDNA) manufacturing using rapid enzymatic synthesis (RES). The facility will be designed to provide cGMP-compliant clinical and initial commercial supply and also house expanded capacity for research production and process development activities. Cresa provided workplace solutions, labor and financial analytics, transaction management, and stakeholder decision support, resulting in a holistic strategy and ultimately an excellent outcome for Generation Bio.

“Cresa brought a fresh perspective to our search for a mission critical cGMP manufacturing facility that could accommodate our novel rapid enzymatic synthesis at commercial scale,” said Geoff McDonough, M.D., chief executive officer of Generation Bio. “Their consultative process and approach allowed us the time necessary to make the right decision for our medium- and long-term needs.”

The company has signed a lease agreement to build out a state-of-the-art cGMP facility to scale RES for clinical and initial commercial supply. In addition, the new facility will house expanded capacity for research production and process development activities. The facility is expected to be operational in 2023, enabling an Investigational New Drug (IND) application and clinical development for the company’s lead hemophilia A program in 2023. The company is using existing infrastructure for RES production of research material.

The 30-acre, 600,000 SF Centerpoint campus was recently repositioned by HRP to appeal to growing life science companies. This multi-building adaptive re-use now includes world class infrastructure and amenities, including a state-of-the-art fitness center, café, outdoor space, multiple conference and collaboration spaces, gaming and golf simulator areas, indoor bike storage and ample parking. Additionally, Centerpoint offers excellent access to public transportation, including a direct private shuttle to the Harvard Square Red Line.

Paul Delaney, Vicki Keenan, and John Coakley of Cresa Boston negotiated the lease for Generation Bio, and Matt Malatesta, Mark Roth, Brendan Daly, and Brianna Piacitelli of Newmark represented the landlord (HRP).

The project team includes:

• Client: Generation Bio
• Landlord: Hilco Redevelopment Partners
• Architect: TRIA
• Construction Manager: Commodore Builders
• OPM: Hereva