Capri EGM Acquires Genzyme Northborough Global Op Center

Genzyme is the sole tenant at 11 Forbes Road in Northborough, MA.

NORTHBOROUGH, MA— Capri EGM reports it has acquired pharmaceutical company Genzyme Corp.’s global operations and distribution center at 11 Forbes Road here. Chicago-based Capri EGM says that the approximately 211,000-square-foot facility is leased to Genzyme , a Sanofi company, under a long-term net lease. The company did not disclose financial details of the transaction. According to a report in the Worcester Business Journal, Cambridge-based Genzyme began construction on a $65-million project to renovate and equip the Forbes Road property. Genzyme has extensive office and lab holdings in the Greater Boston/Cambridge market. The long-term net lease with Genzyme includes contractual annual increases. Genzyme conducts its global distribution operations from 11 Forbes Road. The LEED-Gold certified building underwent extensive interior, exterior upgrades, including roof and mechanical improvements. The building is used for storage and distribution of Genzyme’s pharmaceutical products. Shelby E.L. Pruett , co-chairman and CEO of EGM tells Globest.com that the quality of the tenant and its location in what he describes as the “Innovation Corridor” along I-90 from the Boston-Cambridge area in the east to Worcester in the west. He noted that within a 10-mile radius of 11 Forbes Road there are 100 operating life science companies. “We liked the area. It is a great area for distribution and on top of that Genzyme is a leading company owned by a AA-rated company Sanofi Aventis,” he says. Another reason Capri EGM was attracted to the property was the fact that it was built to high standards—cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices established by the Food and Drug Administration). As one of only four properties in the market built to such strict standards, Pruett says that the Genzyme distribution center was “an attractive and highly desirable asset.” He adds, “The acquisition is consistent with our established strategy, providing durable cash flows, escalation annual rents, and attractive risk-adjusted returns over time and across a variety of market conditions and economic cycles.” He tells Globest.com that Capri is in acquisition discussions on several net lease properties in the Greater Boston area. “We are looking at two transactions right now, one in the office sector and one in the retail sector,” Pruett says, adding that an announcement on those sales could come as early as in the next few weeks. Since 1992, Capri and its predecessor organizations have acquired, originated and managed more than $10 billion in commercial real estate investments directly and through entity level investments. Capri is an investment company specializing in corporate sale leasebacks and built to suit financing, as well as the acquisition of institutional quality single-tenant office, industrial and retail net lease properties. Diversified assets managed on behalf of Capri’s pension fund and other institutional investors totaled approximately $3.53 billion as of Dec. 31, 2015.