Trammell Crow’s Fulton Labs delivered a boost to Chicago’s push to give life sciences lab tenants local options by landing Xeris Biopharma Holdings to an expansion.
The injectable-drug maker is extending its footprint in the Fulton Market District, strengthening the neighborhood’s reputation as a biotech hub, Crain’s reported. Xeris’ move also marks another departure from LaSalle Street through the Loop, a corridor that’s been struggling to retain office tenants since even before the pandemic.
Xeris signed a 13-year lease for 87,000 square feet at 1375 West Fulton Street. The new lease is an expansion for the company, which previously leased 40,000 square feet at 180 North LaSalle Street and 11,000 square feet in the Fulton Street building.
With the deal, Xeris becomes the anchor tenant of the 14-story Trammel Crow-developed building that includes lab space for multiple life sciences companies, including Vanqua Bio, Talis Biomedical and Charles River Laboratories.
Xeris CEO Paul Edick said the company was eager to consolidate its footprint into one of the buildings it already occupied. Kyle Kamin of CBRE, negotiated the new lease on behalf of Xeris, while Kelsey Scheive, also of CBRE, represented the landlord.
The expanded lease is positive news for Chicago, which historically has lost growing pharmaceutical companies like Xeris to other more mature life sciences markets such as Boston or San Francisco. Developers have worked to address the main problem, which is a lack of high-quality and well-located lab space, by including that kind of space in more properties near the heart of the city.
The firm will list the 40,000 square feet it occupied at 190 North LaSalle on the sublease market, adding to a record amount of downtown secondary space already available.
Trammell Crow built the 14-floor, 301,000-square-foot 1375 West Fulton as the first phase of its Fulton Labs project, and earlier this year completed the second at 400 North Aberdeen Street, a 16-story, 420,000-square-foot project.
Before Google finalized its purchase of the Thompson Center in the Loop, the tech company was reportedly considering expanding its Fulton Market presence by up to 200,000 square feet at the Aberdeen building but later dropped that option. readmore title=”Read more”]
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— Victoria Pruitt