Regeneron shells out $720M to buy its New York-based headquarters complex

After 25 years, Regeneron is moving from tenant to landlord at its New York headquarters.

The company has agreed to buy the Mount Pleasant and Greenburgh-based Landmark at Eastview campus for $720 million from sellers BMR-Landmark at Eastview and BMR-Landmark at Eastview IV, both affiliates of BioMed Realty, Regeneron said in a recent SEC filing. The transaction is slated to close in this year’s first quarter.

Once it does, Regeneron will be the proud owner of 150 acres, consisting mainly of office buildings and lab space. But the facility has room to grow, the company said; existing development rights at the facility allow for more than 500,000 square feet of construction.

Right now, though, Regeneron isn’t using the entire campus. It’s occupying about 80%, or 1.2 million square feet, it said in the filing, and other tenants—including Bayer, according to BioMed’s website—are renting out the remaining 20% of the space.

Regeneron plans to fund its buy with financing from Banc of America Leasing & Capital, and under the parties’ arrangement, the drugmaker will assign legal ownership of the campus to Banc of America for five years. That setup will allow Regeneron to lease the complex for rent payments that “are expected be lower than those under the company’s existing lease” for its headquarters, it said, and Regeneron will have the option to extend the lease, purchase the complex, or sell the property to a third party after five years’ time.

"This agreement will result in cost savings and also provide Regeneron with operational control of our site and future development plans," Regeneron spokeswoman Erin Loosen told local newspaper The Journal News.

It’s not the first time Regeneron has picked up property in the area. Back in 2015, it bought a 100-acre parcel just south of its recent purchase.

The company has expanded rapidly over the past few years on the success of eye blockbuster Eylea. Lately, though, Regeneron has run into roadblocks in its attempts to expand its lineup of moneymakers. In October, the FDA hit sarilumab, the highly anticipated rheumatoid arthritis prospect it shares with Sanofi, with a CRL on manufacturing concerns. And more recently, a district judge handed down a patent ruling that could push the partners' new PCSK9 cholesterol fighter Praluent off the market.