Ensemble Expands Life Sciences Footprint in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Ensemble Real Estate Investments has purchased three life sciences facilities, comprising 366,803 square feet of space in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard.

The properties, located at 4701 and 4751 League Island Blvd. and 400 Rouse Blvd., are each occupied by WuXi Advanced Therapies Inc.

“Ensemble is proud to partner with WuXi to support their important work in developing advanced and life-sustaining therapies in the years to come,” states Mark Seltzer, SVP of development for Ensemble. “The Navy Yard’s proximity to the highway network and airport, along with its unique ability to accommodate large-format, low-rise buildings in an urban environment has made it incredibly attractive to WuXi and many other Life Sciences companies, positioning it as a critical component of our regional economy.”

With the recent acquisitions, Ensemble Real Estate Investments now owns a total of five life sciences properties within Navy Yard, totaling 550,000 square feet and $155 million in investments. The company’s additional Navy Yard properties include Adaptive Therapeutics’ US headquarters and the Iovance Biotherapeutics facility, which is currently under construction.

Each of the company’s Navy Yard life sciences buildings offer manufacturing, laboratory, research and development and office space to support the clinical development and initial commercialization of novel engineered immunotherapies, including gene and cell therapy.

Along with the facility assets, the California-based company has additionally invested in office and hospitality properties within the area; bringing the firm’s Navy Yard portfolio to total more than 1.1 million square feet, including four pad-ready development sites.

The real estate company has appointed two former Liberty Property Trust professionals to its team. Within their new roles, Brian Cohen and Mark Seltzer will lead Ensemble’s East Coast operations.

“Ensemble’s decades-long track record of successfully executing development projects across all asset classes and their ability to effectively raise capital, creates a platform well positioned to achieve an aggressive growth strategy in Philadelphia and the region.” says  Cohen. “These attributes, coupled with the team’s vast experience envisioning and creating exceptional projects will serve to further attract leading-edge companies throughout our portfolio.”

WuXi’s most recent advanced therapies testing facility, 400 Rouse Boulevard, offers 140,000 square feet of state-of-the-art space. As one of the largest LEED Gold life sciences buildings in Philadelphia, the property more than doubles the company’s testing capacity for gene and cell therapies and increases the company’s Navy Yard footprint to more than 400,000 square feet of lab and GMP space.

As one of the first companies to move to the Navy Yard in 2004, AppTec opened a 75,000-square-foot contract testing and manufacturing facility, prior to being acquired by WuXi PharmaTech in 2008. Since then, WuXi has expanded its presence within the Navy Yard in order to serve the growing demand for cell therapies.