Adam Sichol, Jamie Peschel and Jessica Brock

With its intense focus on life sciences, including over 14.5 million square feet of laboratory and technology space, Longfellow was poised for expansion even before the pandemic made the sector one of the most coveted in commercial real estate.

“We expanded in all of our markets,” Adam Sichol said. Indeed. Together with New York Blood Center, the company is planning a $750 million, 16-story, 596,000-square-foot life sciences hub at 310 East 67th Street on the Upper East Side, a location known as Center East.

In October, the company paid $315.4 million for a 371,281-square-foot, nine-building office portfolio in San Diego it’ll be converting into a life sciences campus of up to 2.7 million square feet. It also paid $178 million for the San Mateo Bay Center, two buildings totaling 248,000 square feet in San Mateo, Calif., that will be converted into a life sciences facility.

In December, Longfellow purchased a majority equity interest in the 200,000-square-foot building at 43-10 23rd Street in Long Island City, Queens, for around $95 million. The company plans to invest another $120 million to convert the property to a life sciences building. This was Longfellow’s first outright life sciences acquisition in New York City.

And this past March, the company secured $500 million in funding from the California State Teachers Retirement System to develop life sciences assets nationwide. Boston-based Longfellow also expanded into the U.K. in late 2021 with the opening of an office in London.

Sichol sees 2022 bringing about more of the same in terms of expansion and overall
growth.

“We hired about 75 people last year, and this year we’ve already hired about 25 to 30,” Sichol said. “We’re going to continue to hire because we’re in the midst of delivering and executing on our portfolio. This is going to be a year where we’re very focused on execution of development and redevelopment, and also continuing to grow in a very disciplined manner.”