BANKER & TRADESMAN: Sanofi Genzyme Signs Lease For 47 Percent Expansion

Sanofi Genzyme, in collaboration with Ferris Development Group LLC, has expanded in Westborough.

The lease for 53,879 square feet is a 47 percent expansion. Sanofi Genzyme now occupies 167,901 square-feet inside the class A office building on One Research Drive along Route 9.

Since its purchase in February 2014, Ferris Development Group has made renovations, including a new lobby, stone façade entrance and outdoor patio. The building’s cafeteria and 140-seat auditorium/training area were upgraded and a new video conferencing center was added. The building also has WiFi, an ATM and a 4,000-square-foot fitness center with locker rooms and showers. Sanofi Genzyme moved into 114,022 square feet in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Partners John Lashar and Paul Leone and Associate McKenna Teague of Transwestern | RBJ represented Ferris Development Group LLC in the expansion. Louis Kluger with JM Zell Partners Ltd. represented Sanofi Genzyme in the lease expansion with assistance from JM Zell’s Jeff Zell and...

BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL: Sanofi Genzyme expanding in Westborough

Fresh off a corporate reorganization, Sanofi Genzyme is expanding its administrative operations in Westborough and relocating some employees from Framingham.

 Sanofi Genzyme is the rare-disease subsidiary of French drug giant Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) and the largest biotechnology employer in Massachusetts.

Starting in March, the firm will lease an additional 53,879 square feet at One Research Drive in Westborough. The new space equates to a 47 percent expansion and will bring Sanofi Genzyme to a total of 167,901 leased square feet at the facility.

More than 500 employees are located at Sanofi Genzyme’s Westborough office, and the expansion will create room for an additional 300 workers, said Anna Stefano-Robinson, a Sanofi spokeswoman. The company will relocate some employees from 200 Staples Drive in Framingham, Stefano-Robinson said, though she declined to specify if the expansion would result in any new hires.

The Westborough office will be used for administrative work, “implementing a dynamic workspace to promote collaboration,” she said.

 One Research Drive is a 283,285-square-foot Class A office building located on Route 9. The property was half empty in February 2014 when Marlborough-based Ferris Development Group LLC bought it for $21.5 million. In the two years since the acquisition, Ferris Development has upgraded building amenities and brought occupancy to 96 percent.

Real estate brokerage Transwestern | RBJ represented Ferris Development in the deal with Sanofi Genzyme. The expanded lease begins in March and extends through October 2022.

Sanofi bought Cambridge-based Genzyme in 2011 for $20 billion. The firm is planning to move its Cambridge headquarters to 50 Binney St. by 2018.

Ferris Buys Office Buildings, Signs Lease

May 8, 2015 Things are moving rapidly for Ferris Development Corp. in the wake of its latest CRE acquisition here, with the homegrown MetroWest firm extending and expanding a key tenant at 8 Technology Dr. just a week after buying that and 4 Technology Dr. for a total of $24.5 million. The signing of Simplivity to an 85,000-sf deal pushed out to 2019 from its current 55,000 sf...

After Route 128 Office Acquisition, Ferris Wins DTZ Listing for $24M

March 17, 2015 One of the MetroWest’s most prolific real estate investors this decade is about to secure another substantial asset in 4 and 8 Technology Dr., a pair of resilient Class B office buildings being marketed through DTZ whose Capital Markets team wasted little time after an agreement with the first winning bidder faltered on the finish line a month ago, opening the opportunity for Ferris Development Group to step up on a pact some peg in the $24 million range….

Ferris Buying Waltham Stake for $22M

January 23, 2015  Ferris Development is bringing its real estate footprint in from the Interstate 495 Central region where CEO David Ferris has focused since launching his CRE plat- form five years ago, with sources indicating the operation has tied up a pair of Route 128 office buildings here comprising 135,000 sf. Transwestern RBJ is said to have orchestrated the off-market negotiation...

Genzyme signs big lease for office space in Westborough

September 4, 2014 Genzyme Corp., a Cambridge biotechnology company, has signed a seven-year lease for 114,000 square feet of space at an office building in Westborough. Later this year, it plans to relocate operations from a satellite office in Framingham, Ferris Development Group said…

Genzyme to move 500 employees from Framingham to Westborough

September 4, 2014 Cambridge-based Genzyme will be moving about 500 office workers from Framingham to a new 114,000-square-foot space in Westborough in November

Investors pounce on biggest opportunities in decades

October 20, 2014  Developers understand that real estate is cyclical. The cycle we’re entering is similar to what Greater Boston markets have experienced before. Companies large and small are moving from high-priced space in the city and nearby markets toward more cost-effective sites in suburban areas such as I-495 and MetroWest