NEW YORK — The Janus Property Company has signed a lease with Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals LLC (“Company”) at the Mink Building in the West Side’s Manhattanville Factory District adjacent to Columbia University and City College.
Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals is a rapidly growing biopharmaceutical innovator transitioning from a pre-clinical to a clinical study-stage business, and is publicly traded on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. The Company’s objective is to develop breakthrough therapies for the treatment of blood cancers and autoimmune diseases and to make bone marrow transplantations safer and more accessible to a larger number of patients.
Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals will be moving to the Mink Building from SUNY Downstate’s campus, becoming the third recent leading life science firm to relocate to the Factory District seeking growth following Quentis Therapeutics from Alexandria Center in Kips Bay and Volastra Therapeutics from J Labs in Lower Manhattan.
These tenants join Quicksilver Therapeutics, BioBus, Renal Research Institute and a DASNY health facility, bringing the building to approximately 80% leased to life science and health care tenants. This is in addition to Harlem Biospace and Hypothekids that are also tenants in the District. Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals’ new 10,000 rentable square feet (“rsf”) lab will include two clean rooms purpose-built by Janus, allowing it to pursue commercialization of its major cell therapy product candidates, starting with its HEMO-CAR-T cell therapy for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.
“I am very excited to be on the West Side of Manhattan in the Factory District. I personally toured every life sciences option in the New York City area and the choice for our lab’s continued growth was clear. With several current and future vivarium options, the opportunity to collaborate with Columbia University and City College, the exceptional location for my staff that come from several locations, and Janus’s commitment to both the life sciences industry and our company in particular, the Mink Building represents a perfect combination that could not be matched,” said Dr. Vladislav Sandler, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals. “We will be growing our staff and operations significantly over the next three years, and this lab and building provide us everything we need. Janus also provides us with the critical flexibility we need for our future by allowing us to grow out of this lab and into its numerous other properties in the District without penalty.”
The firm’s move further raises Janus’s and the Factory District’s visibility in New York’s emerging life science sector as it continues to execute its long-term strategy of building the leading life science community in New York. With multiple buildings, price points and suite sizes in a connected campus with extensive public and private outdoor spaces, Janus can service tenants ranging from a single seat at Harlem Biospace’s incubator to the entire 350,000 rsf Taystee Lab Building.
“We are extremely gratified that Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals chose the District for its new home,” said Scott Metzner, Principal, the Janus Property Company. “It’s wonderful to see the growth of so many different life science options for tenants to grow in or to move to in New York, so we take great pride as so many of today’s most exciting companies are choosing our buildings and our location in such a competitive environment. Not only are we increasingly recognized in terms of access to talent, accessibility and location, but there is not another option with the public-private-academic familiarity, collaboration and mutual goals that we, Columbia University and its Medical Center, City College and our local and State leaders share. It is simply incomparable to any other life sciences offering in New York.”
The Mink Building, located on West 126th Street at Amsterdam Avenue, has been completely re-built by Janus while preserving and enhancing the building’s singular industrial charms. The building features expansive ceiling heights and flexible, technology-enabled office and lab settings. The Manhattanville Factory District is a master-planned campus that includes extensive outdoor private and public space (designed by TerrainWork and as recently featured in Architectural Digest). It spans east from Amsterdam Avenue from West 125th to West 128th Streets. It is just a few short blocks from the West Side Highway, Hudson River Park Bike Path and the A, C, B, D and #1 subway lines. A major focus of the District has been building a vibrant arts and science cluster into the existing West Harlem fabric.
In addition to the 150,000 rsf Mink Building, the 1.3 million-rentable square foot Manhattanville Factory District includes the Sweets Building, the recently completed 200,000 rsf Malt House and the soon-to-be-completed 350,000 rsf Taystee Lab Building. Additionally, Janus owns numerous future development sites in the neighborhood for additional growth. Each component of the campus addresses the architecture and scale of the neighborhood while modern lab facilities and flexible office, not-for-profit and retail space deliver on New York City’s pressing need for a well-located, state-of-the-art, walkable innovation campus with extensive outdoor space. The flexibility of options throughout the District and Janus’s commitment to building the top life sciences ecosystem in New York, within steps of Columbia University, City College and the West Side research hospital corridor, gives life sciences tenants room to grow.
