Philadelphia Business Journal article
Swiss and Chinese companies have signed long-term leases to occupy a 110,000-square-foot lab and flex space building under construction in Exton’s Eagleview development.
Früh Verpackungstechnik AG, a medical packaging company based in Fehraltorf, Switzerland, will lease 63,500 square feet in the new building. China’s Frontage Laboratories, which already leases space in Eagleview, signed to lease another 46,500 square feet in the same future building. Frontage provides product development services to companies developing drugs.
Hankin Group, Eagleview’s developer, said the total cost of the building is $40 million. The companies declined to share terms of the two leases. The building is at 240 Sierra Drive.
Früh plans to employ “a few hundred” people at its the site with most being newly created jobs, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Thomas Good said from Switzerland in a phone interview.
“We are following the customers’ voice,” Good said. “We already do business in significant numbers with the American market. Customers have asked why not provide the service for medical devices in the U.S.?”
Früh, which has locations in Switzerland and China, considered an American expansion before the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s search slowed temporarily before choosing between locations in Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Früh’s analysis found Massachusetts offered the highest educated workforce but also the most expensive. Among the three, salaries were lowest in Illinois but Good said that came with disadvantages. The Philadelphia area offered the most complete package, he said.
Upon arriving to the Eagleview site and exiting the car, “My first impression was, ‘We have found it,’” Good said.
Hankin Group aims to have the first phase of the new building ready for Früh in the fall of 2023, COO Michael Hankin said. Receiving required certifications could take a few months, Good said, so the site would then be operational by the end of 2023 or early 2024.
Good cited similarities in lifestyle between Zurich and the Philadelphia area and similarities between Früh and Hankin Group, both family-owned companies. That helped establish trust as Früh chose where to expand.
“This is a very, very exciting journey we have in front of us,” Good said. “We believe very strongly in the U.S. market.”
Frontage’s phase of the building is planned to be completed in the second quarter of 2024. Frontage already leases 80,000 square feet from Hankin and has been a tenant since 2010. It plans to hire 90 employees to support the expansion.
The two international companies signing on represents the continued boom in life sciences in the Philadelphia region.
“Eagleview, in particular, for the suburbs, continues to be incredibly strong and very sought after,” Hankin said. “I think the reason why is because Eagleview, unlike some other corporate parks, provides a truly mixed-use experience for the employees.”
Eagleview has 1.3 million square feet of research and development space. Hankin Group owns and manages about 750,000 square feet of that, which has an occupancy rate of 99% as of the 240 Sierra Drive lease signings, according to the company. Retail space and apartments are each 95% full and office space is 85%.
Hankin’s Commercial Leasing Manager Sam Sherrill said the company has about a million more square feet that could be developed for commercial space.
“We are able to shift pretty quickly to where the market’s pointing to and right now it seems to be pointing more toward life sciences than other things like office,” Sherrill said. “So that’s what we’re going to be trying to accomplish.”