NORTHBOROUGH, MA-Genzyme will stay put, but is getting a new property-owner to answer to with the $17.5-million sale of GENZYME | NORTHBOROUGH here. ING Clarion partners and Leggat McCall Properties are divesting themselves of the 211,600-square-foot critical-use facility to Hartford-based Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, which is acting on behalf of an unnamed institutional investor.

Genzyme is the sole leasor of the property under a long-term net lease and will be performing an “extensive” renovation to the facility, according to Cushman & Wakefield, which represented the seller and procured the buyer for this transaction. The pharmaceutical company will drop an estimated $60 million-plus to fully renovate the property, including the addition of 40,300 square feet of mezzanine space bringing the total square footage to 251,900.

The high-end final assembly and distribution facility for Genzyme’s worldwide shipment consists of 50,900 square feet of class A, two-story office R&D space and 160,700 square feet of single-story pharmaceutical production and distribution space. The property at 11 Forbes Rd. sits on a total of 18 acres and is aiming at a LEED Gold certification for the property by the completion of its renovations and addition.