It took just months for a Florida healthcare nonprofit to find the space it needed to accommodate plans to expand its presence to Atlanta, recently signing one of the city’s largest office deals so far this year.
Shriners Children’s, which oversees a network of children’s hospitals and other pediatric medical facilities, finalized a roughly 159,000-square-foot deal at Science Square Labs, a mixed-use development adjacent to Georgia Tech’s main campus. The deal with landlord and developer Trammell Crow Co. makes Shriners Children’s the anchor tenant and pushes the property’s occupancy up to about 85%.
The 101 Nerem St. NW lease is the largest new deal to be signed in the city so far this year, according to CoStar data. It is the second largest for the Atlanta market behind UPS’ recent sale-leaseback deal last month in nearby Alpharetta, although that’s based on a technicality since UPS has long occupied the building there.
Trammell Crow Co. recently wrapped up construction on the initial $350 million phase of the project. Other tenants that have so far helped to fill the building include battery giant Duracell and the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Once it moves in, Shriners will be by far the nearly 368,260-square-foot property’s largest occupant.
The Tampa, Florida-based nonprofit unveiled plans earlier this summer to scout for locations in Atlanta that could house a new pediatric medical research facility. Shriners weighed several options throughout the area, ultimately deciding to land at Science Square because of its resources and proximity to the university, which teamed up with Trammell Crow to spearhead the project.
Along with the room necessary to accommodate laboratories, collaborative workspaces and advanced technology, Shriners Children’s new Atlanta hub will also be able to fulfill its commitment to devoting almost 500 jobs across the cell and gene therapies, robotics, artificial intelligence, medical devices and other focus areas.
Life science recovery
The deal is a proverbial shot in the arm for both Atlanta’s office market and its standing as a national life science hub.
State and local officials over the past several years have touted factors such as the area’s relative affordability, lower labor and real estate costs, and local talent pool in an effort to build up its biotech industry and better compete with regions in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida.
With the influx of companies such as Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Intuitive Surgical, Alcon and Meissner Corp., Georgia's life science workforce added about 11,000 jobs between 2015 and 2021, a 20% increase that outpaced the national average, according to a TEConomy/BIO report. The Atlanta market in particular is now home to more than 18,000 life sciences jobs, nearly 5,600 of which are research and development roles, which ballooned by about 45% between 2019 to 2022, according to a recent CBRE report.
The region’s burgeoning life science sector has provided a foundation of confidence for developers such as Trammell Crow, which kicked off construction on the initial phase of Science Square labs in 2022.
The deal with Shriners “represents a major milestone that underscores Trammell Crow’s vision for the project,” Katherine Lynch, a principal for Trammell Crow, said in a statement, adding that the campus provides the kind of “collaborative, state-of-the-art environment” that has long been in short supply for Atlanta’s life science industry.
Once fully built out, the campus will provide about 1.6 million square feet of lab and office space next to 500 apartments and roughly 25,000 square feet of retail space.
For the record
A team of CBRE brokers including Eric Ross, Jessica Doyle and Graham Little represented Trammell Crow Co. in the deal with Shriners Children’s.