Landesbank, Tishman Speyer Provide $119M Life Sciences Refi in Boston Suburb

A consortium of Boylston Properties and its affiliates has secured $119.15 million to refinance 500 Forge, a recently redeveloped Class A life sciences property that spans nearly 160,000 square-feet in Watertown, a suburb just outside of Boston.  

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg provided a $94 million senior loan, while Tishman Speyer Properties, via its new credit platform, supplied $25.2 million in mezzanine debt. A JLL Capital Markets team of Brett Paulsrud, Henry Schaffer and Geoff Goldstein arranged the transaction.

500 Forge opened in 2023 as a redeveloped hybrid space with 60 percent research and development facilities and 40 percent office space. The building is currently leased to three tenants, notably Mariana Oncology, a preclinical biotechnology firm. 

500 Forge is part of the larger Arsenal Yards mixed-use development that has dominated Watertown commercial real estate in recent years with more than 1 million square feet of commercial space, including stores, apartment complexes, hotels, multiple life sciences buildings and public park space. 

The Arsenal site sits just seven miles from Downtown Boston in what is now the fastest-growing life sciences real estate hub in the U.S. The life sciences footprint in Watertown extended to 3.79 million square feet as of late last year, with most of it developed after 2022. 

One in four dollars of property tax revenue that Watertown collects annually comes from life sciences. The city now carries the moniker Biotech-Ville U.S.A.

Much of the asset class’ surging development comes on the heels of recent overdevelopment in nearby Cambridge, Mass., home of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Life sciences vacancy in Cambridge plummeted to 1.6 percent in 2020, according to Colliers, leaving nearby Watertown as the logical choice to absorb much of the needed demand across the sector. 

JLL’s Paulsrud said the recent $119 million refinancing for Forge 500 reflects how even in a challenging, more discerning market, “high-quality opportunities continue to attract capital.”  

“Despite the broader headwinds facing the life science sector, 500 Forge underscores the reality that lenders remain committed to backing best-in-class assets and sponsors,” said Paulsrud. 

Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com