Rockville, MD – Despite the economic recession, not all local biotechnology companies are scaling back their space requirements. In fact, some are expanding.
Scheer Partners Inc., a leading provider of commercial real estate services in the greater Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas, announced today that Fisher BioServices has signed a lease for 20,249 square feet, creating additional biorepository space in Montgomery County and further expanding the company’s presence in the Washington region.
In this transaction, Scheer Partners executives Henry Bernstein and Matt Brady represented MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing anti-infective drugs.
Fisher BioServices, a Rockville-based professional contract services company, signed a seven-year lease in Germantown at 20439 Seneca Meadows Parkway, a 53,054-square-foot building that is part of the Seneca Meadows Corporate Center.
A division of Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher Scientific, Fisher BioServices will occupy the space on Oct. 1. The current occupant there is MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals, which changed ownership last year and shifted some of its operations to Texas.
Bernstein, a company senior vice president, and Brady, a company vice president, negotiated a release of MiddleBrook Pharmaceutical’s current lease – which expires in 2013 – that permitted Fisher BioServices to sign a prime lease for the space directly with the landlord, Minkoff Development Corp., a privately held real estate development firm based in Germantown.
The space that Fisher BioServices will occupy is a technologically advanced freezer/lab repository for research samples being preserved for the company’s clients.
“Think of it as a high-tech data storage facility, but for scientific research purposes rather than information-technology functions,” Bernstein explains. “Features of the space include significant back-up power, electricity and HVAC systems.”
“It makes a lot of sense for Fisher to take this space,” Brady says. “By allowing it (Fisher) to take advantage of the existing infrastructure of the building, Fisher is able to accommodate its need for a new biorepository facility in a more cost-effective manner.”
The company is a world leader in biological specimen management, supporting all sectors of the life sciences community, including the academic, biotech, government and pharmaceutical sectors. Fisher BioServices provides customized, turn-key solutions for specimen kit assembly and collection, lab processing and repository services.