Image courtesy of IQHQ

What: Alewife Park
Where: Whittemore Avenue, Cambridge
Built: 1919
Owner: GCP Applied Technologies 

Construction materials manufacturer GCP Applied Technologies has agreed to sell its 26-acre headquarters property in Cambridge to IQHQ Inc., a life science REIT. 

GCP will occupy its 290,000-square-foot headquarters rent-free for 18 months as IQHQ explores development options for the property, located near Alewife station on the MBTA’s Red Line. 

IQHQ, which recently raised $770 million for acquisitions in a handful of life science clusters including Greater Boston, previously acquired 4 Corporate Drive in Andover for $36 million and 109 Brookline Ave. in Boston for $270 million. The REIT also is partnering with Boston-based Meredith Management on its Fenway Center air rights project, which will include two office-lab towers totaling 720,000 square feet.  

Newmark Knight Frank’s Boston capital markets group represented GCP in the transaction, which is expected to close by early August. 

They Said It: 

 “We are excited about the acquisition of Alewife Park, and to be able to provide tenants with a premier scalable office and laboratory campus in a renowned center for innovation. We are committed to working with the city of Cambridge and our neighbors as we usher in a new era for the site.” 

— Tracy Murphy, president, IQHQ