First Life Science Lease Inked at New Haven’s Winchester Works

By James Sanna | November 12, 2020 | Reprints | Unlock Link | Print

Photo by Sylvester Zawadzki

A lab-focused renovation north of downtown New Haven is beginning to pay off for the joint venture that acquired the property in 2019 with the signing of its first major biotech tenant.

Drug discovery firm Halda Therapeutics, founded by a professor in Yale University’s School of Medicine and funded in 2019, has signed a lease for 9,800 square feet of office and lab space at Winchester Works, a 145,000-square-foot office conversion of part of the former Winchester Repeating Arms Factory near Yale’s Science Park development. Halda plans to relocate from Business Park Drive in Branford in the first quarter of 2021.

JLL, the exclusive leasing agent for Winchester Works, brokered the deal.

Winchester Works was converted by Winstanley Enterprises in 2012 to the headquarters for a financial services firm, now departed, and bought by a joint venture of Twining Properties, L+M Development Partners and the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group in 2019 with the aim of effecting a conversion to office-lab space.

The complex is currently 30 percent leased to Bank Mobile and Transact Campus, both college student-focused fintechs. Amenities include an overhauled entrance and lobby and a revamped rooftop amenity space. Full buildout of Winchester Center – of which Winchester Works is a part – could eventually include over 1,000 apartments, retail space and 500,000 square feet of office and lab space. Nearby development includes a nearby planned 371-unit luxury development.

New Haven’s growing life science industry, driven by spinoffs from Yale research, has been stymied for growth in recent years due to the lack of enough modern lab space to allow them to scale up without having to relocate to Boston or New York City. Several ventures, including Winchester Works and a 550,000-square-foot downtown tower planned by Winstanley, are seeking to fill that gap.

“The city of New Haven is poised to lead the next biotech expansion, and Winchester Works is ready to welcome the companies that will drive future growth,” Jake Pine, director at L+M Development Partners, said in a statement. “Our campus is open for business today, while other life science developments in New Haven are still years from completion.”