MIT Buys Into Cambridge Real Estate Portfolio

CAMBRIDGE, MA-In a deal that includes one of the city’s most recognized landmarks, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has bought into a portfolio of office and laboratory properties owned by Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The agreement includes a ground-lease provision in which Alexandria will master lease the assets for a 50-year term and 25-year extension option.

Based in Pasadena, CA, Alexandria secured the properties beginning in 2001 when it paid $35.6 million for 770, 784 and 790 Memorial Dr., the middle of which served as the long-time headquarters of Polaroid Corp. That property is well known thanks to an art deco design and prominent clock that serves as the centerpiece. After Polaroid was forced to sell in 1999 to the Bulfinch Cos. due to lingering financial difficulties, the 3.8-acre complex overlooking the Charles River was purchased by Alexandria during construction of 770 and 790 Memorial Dr., a pair of laboratory structures totaling 100,000 sf.