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DRUG GIANT EXTENDS CAMBRIDGE PRESENCE
Author(s): Anthony Flint, Globe Staff
Date: September 17, 2002
Page: D1
Section: Business
The Swiss biotech giant Novartis AG has signed a lease for 500,000 square feet of renovated office and laboratory space in the old Necco candy factory on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, according to people involved with the negotiations. The official announcement, expected within days, will extend Novartis's presence in Cambridge well beyond the 200,000 square feet the company leased at 100 Technology Square, in Kendall Square.
The New England Confectionary Co. complex - between MIT and Central Square - will be available once the candy company moves out early in 2003 and the six-story structure is completely renovated. The real estate group DSF Advisors LLC completed the full-building lease with Novartis after weeks of intense negotiations concerning the cost of cleaning up the former candy factory and other issues. Details on the length and cost of the lease were not available yesterday. Arthur Solomon and partner Marvin Davis, from the real estate capital market group for Lazard Freres, completed the deal for DSF Advisors. They could not be reached for comment yesterday. The broker in the deal is Insignia/ESG. Representatives of Novartis, which chose Massachusetts over California and New Jersey in its planned location of about 900 researchers and staff in the United States, could not be reached, either. The company's broker is Cushman & Wakefield. Necco, known for its trademark wafers and candy hearts, has been making candy at the 254 Massachusetts Ave. complex since 1926. DSF took ownership of the property after ushering Necco into the former Woodworkers Warehouse in Revere, which after additions will be an 800,000-square-foot headquarters facility. About 800 workers are expected to move from Cambridge to Revere when the project is finished next spring. Cambridge east of Central Square has become a biotech center in recent years, and remains a hot real estate market despite increasing vacancy rates over the past year. The Novartis presence would complement Amgen, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and other high-profile firms. In no area is laboratory space more concentrated than in Cambridge. And last month biotech pioneer Genzyme Corp. announced it is moving one of its three divisions into the former Lotus Development building, 55 Cambridge Parkway, only a few blocks from where the company's world headquarters is under construction. Top officials of Genzyme said the company has signed a seven-year lease for 61,101 square feet of space. Anthony Flint can be reached at flint@globe.com.
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