Dealmaker: JLL Secures $393M for Life Sciences Facility

JLL Capital Markets, Chicago, arranged a $393 million construction financing to redevelop 125 West End Ave. in Manhattan into a life sciences facility.

JLL represented the borrower, a partnership controlled by Taconic Partners and Nuveen Real Estate, to secure a four-year, floating-rate senior loan through funds managed by Apollo Global Management and a mezzanine loan through Oaktree Capital Finance.

Senior Managing Director Evan Pariser and Managing Director Geoff Goldstein led the capital markets team. The same JLL team also arranged $181 million in acquisition and bridge financing for 125 West End and the surrounding campus in Fall 2019.

The 125 West End Ave. project involves converting an existing 399,309-square-foot office building into a purpose-built research and laboratory complex. The existing building’s floor plates will accommodate a life science conversion ranging from 37,000 to 53,000 square feet with 15’9” heights, industrial-grade floor loads, direct loading access on multiple floors and gated shipping and receiving points.

The project benefits from proximity to the West Side life sciences cluster. The location on West 66th St. provides direct access to the Central Park 65th St. traverse. 125 West End Ave. is also a short walk from Lincoln Square and the 1, 2 and 3 subway lines as well as close to the West Side Highway, providing access to New Jersey and Connecticut.

New York City and New York State have committed more than $1 billion to grow the life science industry and the city currently ranks second in National Institutes of Health funding over the past five years, behind only Boston/Cambridge, Mass.

Taconic President and Chief Investment Officer Chris Balestra said the conversion is the largest of its kind to move forward since COVID-19 reached New York.