Alexandria, Scots Partner on 100-Acre Complex

EDINBURGH-Launching an ambitious foray into Europe, California-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. has committed to a 1.4-million-sf biotechnology project here, partnering on a 100-acre swath envisioned as an international center for biotechnology. The mix of office, laboratory and ancillary uses in the newly branded Edinburgh BioQuarter will be kicked off by an 80,000-sf, multi-tenanted building later this year.

Scottish Development International, a government sponsored entity charged with boosting the country’s economic base, chose Alexandria due to its position as North America’s leading real estate investment trust dedicated to the life sciences market. Alexandria already has a presence in most of the US markets that Edinburgh hopes to compete against, including Cambridge, MA, San Francisco and North Carolina.

“Alexandria’s reputation for outstanding life science cluster development, combined with Scotland’s reputation for producing outstanding science, will act as a magnet for some of the world’s leading scientists, researchers and companies,” predicts SDI official Jack Perry. Alexandria owns and operates more than 11 million sf of office/laboratory properties in North America, and has another six million sf in various stages of construction. The latter category includes Mission Bay in San Francisco and East River Science Park in New York City.