BXP, Biotech Company Spar Over Kendall Square Site

A dispute between a biotechnology company and a prominent developer is bubbling up in one of the country’s top life sciences markets.

Brammer Bio filed a lawsuit last week against Boston Properties and Turner Construction over work being done in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, the Boston Business Journal reported.

Brammer, a subsidiary of Thermo Fisher, started subleasing the BXP space at 250 Binney Street from Biogen in 2016. The company uses the 66,000-square-foot space to manufacture treatments like gene therapies.

Adjacent to Brammer’s facility is 290 Binney Street, where BXP is building a 16-story property for prominent life sciences tenant AstraZeneca. The development will also include an apartment building — slated to be the neighborhood’s tallest — and an underground electrical substation.

The development is scheduled for completion in 2026. Norges Bank Investment Management recently come on as a minority stakeholder in 290 Binney and another Kendall site owned by BXP.

BXP launched construction on the project two years ago. Disputes between BXP and Brammer quickly followed, as the former planned to demolish the latter’s facility, which Brammer was hesitant to leave.

In a separate lawsuit last year, Brammer prevailed over Biogen when a court ruled the sublease could be extended for 250 Binney Street; it ultimately was until 2029.

Brammer alleges the construction is taking place “dangerously close” to its facility and causing disruptions to its business, threatening to ruin its batches of treatments. It also claims an affiliate of BXP altered an easement involving the property Brammer is subleasing.

Brammer wants to halt construction, retract full site access and invalidate the easement change. The company, which claims to have spent $100 million outfitting the property to its specifications, is open to negotiating future operations with BXP; it claims it was under the impression it could stay in place until at least 2034.

In a statement, BXP Boston executive Bryan Koop said that “all construction activities have been consistent with both regulations and our own high standards for sensitive and safe redevelopment in urban settings.” Turner did not respond to the Business Journal’s request for comment.

BXP also has approval to build a life sciences building to replace the one Brammer is utilizing, though the company allegedly told Brammer there are no immediate plans to act on that.
— Holden Walter-Warner