Pete Briskman
Peter Briskman
Executive Managing Director at JLL’s Maryland Region
Peter Briskman is executive managing director and co-lead for JLL’s mid-Atlantic life sciences practice, working with notable companies to help them complete some of the largest and most visible real estate transactions in the region.
“The past couple of years, my passion has been in life sciences,” Briskman said. “I’m from Maryland, so it’s been very meaningful for me to help local and national groups navigate through the pandemic and help Montgomery County become a top five life sciences cluster.”
Over the last year, Briskman represented TCR² Therapeutics on its expansion from Cambridge, Mass., to Rockville, Md., including its acquisition of a newly constructed facility to accommodate commercial-scale cell therapy manufacturing.
He’s also represented a large lab and research company in the full-building lease of a new Class A lab conversion at 9601 Medical Center Drive in Rockville to be used for R&D and expansion of its manufacturing activities. He’s also handled a major biotechnology company that supports the production of viable vaccines, including for COVID-19, in its negotiation of incentives and execution of multiple real estate transactions along the I-270 corridor.
“The life sciences sector is very active right now,” Briskman said. “If you look at the office market compared to the life sciences market, life sciences is more active because the scientists need to go into a lab and work with their hands, unlike office workers who can be more remote and work in a hybrid nature.”
Briskman also serves as the board chair for research firm BioHealth Innovation, allowing him to work with leaders in the life sciences arena and share perspectives with like-minded people in the industry.
It’s an exciting time to be dealing in life sciences in the mid-Atlantic, as money has been flowing into the space through private equity and venture capital, and that translates to a direct need for space, Briskman noted.
“If you look over the last couple of years, we have doubled the influx into D.C., and as a result we’re seeing speculative construction in many different product types — not just R&D, but also in manufacturing and R&D conversions — and I think we will continue to see that,” he said.
