Biotech company lease allows big East Bay expansion

Agenus inks deal for manufacturing, labs and office space in Emeryville

EMERYVILLE » A biotech company that produces drugs to combat cancer has struck a leasing deal to expand its operations in the East Bay, according to a regulatory filing.

Agenus has signed a lease to occupy a building in Emeryville that the life sciences firm will use for multiple operations, the company reported in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The office building that Agenus has rented is on Christie Avenue between 64th Street and 65th Street in a campus known as Bay Center Offices.

“Agenus will lease a building containing approximately 83,600 square feet in Emeryville for its commercial antibody manufacturing requirements and additionally, laboratory and office space,” the company said in the SEC documents that were filed on Nov. 25.

The building that Agenus leased is part of the three-building Bay Center Offices campus that is owned by Iowa-based Principal Real Estate Investors and Oakland-based Harvest Properties.

The deal appears to represent a big expansion for Agenus. At present, the company leases 24,000 square feet at 793 Heinz Ave. in Berkeley, according to an annual report on file with the SEC.

At nearly 84,000 square feet, the new offices are more than three times the size of the facilities the company now occupies in

the East Bay.

“Agenus will immediately take possession of the Building to commence warm-up construction and tenant improvements,” the company reported to the SEC.

The lease will total 15 years, with options to extend the rental agreement. The lease will begin as soon as the interior improvements are complete, or by no later than the first day of 2022.

The starting rental rate is $63 a square foot per

year, or $ 5.25 a month. Agenus will be able to enjoy free rent for the first six months of the leasing deal, the SEC files show.

The rental rate in the 15th and final year of the lease is expected to be $95.29 a year or $7.94 a month per square foot, according to the regulatory filing.

Harvest Properties and Principal Real Estate Investors have agreed to chip in a hefty chunk of money to help pay for improvements at the new Agenus offices.

“The landlord will contribute an aggregate of approximately $21.2 million toward the cost of the improvements,” Agenus stated in the SEC filing.

Ma ssachuset ts- ba sed Agenus is working on at least five drugs to battle cancer, according to the company’s website.

“We are advancing an extensive pipeline” of anticancer drugs, Agenus reported to the SEC.