Otera Capital Provides $136M Construction Loan for California Life Sciences Facility
Financing will help Oxford Properties expand the 18-acre Ionis Pharmaceuticals campus in Carlsbad
By Brian Pascus December 7, 2023 3:47 pm
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Oxford Properties, the Toronto-based commercial real estate developer and investor, has secured $136 million in construction financing for a build-to-suit development at the Ionis Pharmaceuticals campus in Carlsbad, Calif., Commercial Observer has learned.
Oxford first took control of the property through a $258.4 million sale and leaseback transaction with Ionis Pharmaceuticals in November.
Otera Capital provided the financing on the deal, while CBRE (CBRE) arranged the transaction.
CBRE’s James Millon, president of U.S. debt and structured finance, Tom Traynor, co-head of U.S. large loans, and Adam Spengler, vice president, led the transaction on behalf of the borrower.
Located at 2855 Gazelle Court in Carlsbad, about 35 miles north of Downtown San Diego, the Ionis Pharmaceuticals campus sits on 18 acres and serves as the firm’s life sciences and corporate headquarters. Developed in 2011, the property features 250,000 square feet of lab, office and research space, as well as a 5,600-square-foot fitness center.
The transaction is yet another feather in the cap for Oxford Properties’ growing life sciences portal out on the West Coast. The firm closed on a $464 million acquisition of a 13-building life sciences portfolio in the Sorrento Mesa and Sorrento Valley this February. Together with the Carlsbad campus, the developer now holds 900,000 square feet of life sciences properties in San Diego alone.
The deal also highlights another large transaction between CBRE’s Millon and Traynor and Otera Capital. The brokers worked together to secure a $300 million construction loan earlier this month from Otera for Tishman Speyer’s 55 Hudson, a 58-story mixed-use development in Jersey City, N.J.
CBRE and Oxford Properties did not respond to requests for comment.
Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com
