KKR Buys 49% Stake in Alexandria’s San Diego ‘Megacampus’
The $475 million investment provides the life sciences owner with much-needed capital
By Mark Hallum October 28, 2026 9:49 am
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Alexandria Real Estate Equities received a big boost of confidence from another real estate investment trust, which entered a joint venture in one of Alexandria’s life sciences properties.
During its third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Alexandria executives alluded to a $475 million investment in its San Diego Campus Point by Alexandria Megacampus. On Wednesday morning, it revealed that that investment came from alternative asset giant KKR.
KKR will hold a 49 percent non-controlling equity interest and a 28.5 percent indirect ownership interest in the research center leased to tenants such as Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Leidos and the University of California-San Diego. Sam Caven, a managing director on KKR’s real estate equity team, will help lead the investment.
“There are three key points on the Campus Point joint venture transaction I’d like to highlight. First, Alexandria will control and consolidate the joint venture,” Alexandria Chief Financial Officer Marc Binda said during the Tuesday call. “Second, the joint venture contains a waterfall distribution model that shifts distributions over time. But at a minimum, we expect the joint venture to make distributions to our new partner equivalent to at least 5.5 percent of their initial $475 million contribution in Year 1 and beyond.”
Eastdil Secured Savills negotiated the deal as financial advisers, but the names of the brokers were not immediately disclosed and Eastdil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The joint venture will provide much-needed capital to Alexandria, which has struggled with faltering finances since 2021, when the life sciences market became saturated by newcomers. The sector also has faced funding cuts by the federal government since 2025.
As leasing has slowed and Alexandria faces 1.4 million square feet in lease expirations in 2027, the real estate investment trust has sold or is in contract to sell $242 million of non-core and land holdings as of the third quarter in order to remain liquid.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
