BY GUS DELAPORTE

With the highest concentration of research facilities in the country, New York has quietly emerged as a challenger to the established biotechnology and pharmaceutical hubs of Boston and San Francisco, according to a New York City Life Sciences report provided to The Commercial Observer by CBRE.

Despite the growing presence of biotech and pharmaceutical companies in New York, the city still faces a challenge of providing adequate space to accommodate the increasing level of interest.

“The universities are here and great research is being done here,” John Isaacs, executive vice president at CBRE, told The Commercial Observer. “It is very logical for there to be spinoffs [of that research,] we just need the space to accommodate them so they don’t leave.”

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BY AL BARBARINO

Sumitomo Real Estate has purchased a 3rd floor office condominium at 800 Second Avenue in Midtown East for more than $4.1 million, The Commercial Observer has learned.

Rudder Property Group, one of the only – if not the only – commercial real estate firms in the city that specializes in the office condo sales market, represented the seller, American Payroll Institute, in the sale of the 10,115-square-foot space.

“The office condo market is the tightest we have seen it since before the recession,” Michael Rudder, principal at the firm, who represented the seller with Michael Heller, told The Commercial Observer. “There are a tremendous amount of buyers on the market with virtually no product available.”

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BY BILLY GRAY

Serengeti Asset Management has inked a 5-year, 11,250-square-foot lease renewal at 632 Broadway.

Nora Stats, a managing member at Tarter Stats O'Toole represented the tenant and its landlord, Renaissance Properties, in the transaction. Greg Gang of Tarter Stats O'Toole said that asking rents at the Noho property are $75 per square foot.

The tenant, a multi-strategy hedge fund, has been in the building for five years.

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BY MICHAEL EWING

Join Peter Linneman of Linneman Associates, author of Real Estate Finance and Investments: Risk and Opportunities, as he moderates CoreNet Global’s program on new trends in real estate development.
CoreNet Global: New Trends in Real Estate Development, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, 200 Park Avenue, 5-8pm; visit corenetglobal.org for more information.

Donate Eight will host its first annual spring cocktail reception in response to the increased need for organ donation and awareness. Join them at Gotham Hall.
Donate Eight: Annual Spring Cocktail Reception, Gotham Hall, 1356 Broadway, 6-9pm; visit www.donateeight.org for more information.