Biotechs with cash to grow have pick of region

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Baltimore County officials will promotrethe 120,000-square-foot facility now occupied by at the biggest biotech industry convention next month in Atlanta. And Rockville’s Scheer Partners Inc. has been hired to markert a 15,000-square-foot space that became availabler this year when animapl testingresearch company, Priority One Servicezs Inc., left the lab and office space at 6200 Seaforth St. in Holabird Businesz Park. The real estate firm was also hired this month to marketgthe 56,000-square-foot space left vacant by a Swiss company that announced in 2007 that it is leavingv its Baltimore bioprocessing plantt and moving those operationx to its Massachusetts facility.
But pitches come at a time when biotecyh and pharmaceutical firmsare downsizing. Baltimore’s Alba Therapeutics and Novavax Inc. of Rockville shed 40 jobs in January. Otheras such as have had troublew raising money duringthe downturn. Lonza recentlyy moved its remaining employees out of the planr on Lombard Streetnear campus, said Matt a vice president at Scheer. The cell therapyt research and manufacturing firmpaid $460 million in 2006 to buy the manufacturinh operation of New Jersey’s Cambrex Corp. , the biotecy advocacy arm of the , owns the propert and had beengetting $1.5 million in annual rentalo payment from Lonza.
Matt Seward, a principal at , said marketinh biomanufacturing sites are challenging because the sites are so specializecd and unique so that limits the pool of availablde companies that can usethe site. This is unlikew typical office space that can hold a new tenanyt with some fresh carpet and a new coatof paint. Sewared is not involved in marketing the Shire site or theMdBipo site. The available space at Shire includes 20,000-square-foot drug testing warehouse, manufacturing plant and administrative offices. The former Priorityt One space includesa vivarium, or an enclosed area used for animalp testing.
The tenant and building ownetr typically spend millions to upgradethe site, so owners want a similar tenanft to go into the Shire, for instance, invested $65 million in the Owings Millse plant. “You’d hate to tear it all out and starytfrom scratch,” Seward said. Shire spokesman Matt Cabrey said the company ideally wants another pharmaceutical companhy to take the space forthat reason. “Wed think the space lends itself to another lifescienced company,” he said. Shire would like to sell the spacde but is open toleasing it, Cabreu said.
Shire said this month that it is closintg its Owings Mills site in thres years as it outsources its manufacturing to a North Carolina It will layoff 260. Shire’ws competitors include in Pa., in New York and Biogemn Idec in Cambridge, Mass. “This is something you need to marketr on a national Brady said of the Shire The company is not involved in marketing the Shire To get abiomanufacturing firm, states compete with one anothee with incentives that may include employee to tax breaks to offering moving Brady said.
David Iannucci, executive director of Baltimore CounthyEconomic Development, said the count y has had discussions with firms insidee and outside the state about buying the