BOSTON-The iconic Longwood Medical Center located near Brookline, Massachusetts, and downtown Boston is set to receive a boost thanks to Alexandria Real Estate and its new JV partners, according to the company. The REIT has linked up with National Development, Charles River Realty Partners and Clarion Partners and has closed on non-recourse construction financing for around 60% of the cost to further develop the medical office, lab and hospital facilities.

According to Alexandria, the new construction will eventually become a top-tier life science center that will span about an acre and cover 414,000 square feet of space. It will contain labs and medical offices, an onsite parking garage and will stand at 11 stories.

In addition to this new development, the REIT has also signed a long-term lease with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at the facility. The research entity will occupy approximately 154,000 square feet in the space according to the same release. Construction on the project will kick off this year with expected completion by the close of 2014.

“The new center represents a significant opportunity to expand our dominant Greater Boston operating life science platform of over 3.5 million square feet into Boston's internationally acclaimed Longwood Medical Area innovation cluster,” says Tom Andrews, Alexandria’s executive vice president and regional market director at the REIT’s Greater Boston cluster.