71 First Ave. Waltham/Image courtesy of Google Maps

In its latest acquisition spree, life science developer King Street Properties paid $68 million for a portfolio of commercial properties near Route 128 in Waltham.

The parcels included warehouse, manufacturing and R&D buildings on First Avenue and West Street. The seller was Framingham-based Atlantic Management.

According to data from the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds and Waltham assessors, the transactions which closed in late April include:

• 45 First Ave., a 42,558-square-foot former Thermo Electron Corp. manufacturing building on a 2.4-acre parcel;
• 71 First Ave., an 18,150-square-foot industrial building located on a 1-acre parcel;
• 85 First Ave., a 19,176-square-foot R&D building on 1.5 acres;
• 76 West St., a 21,909-square-foot R&D building on 0.9 acres;
• 86 West St., a 0.5-acre parcel containing a two-story office building.

Details on King Street’s plans for the new holdings were not immediately available. The Boston-based firm has developed a series of life science projects in Cambridge’s Alewife and Lexington in recent years and received approval last year for the 576,000-square-foot Allston Labworks development on Western Avenue. The firm is developing a large-scale biomanufacturing campus at the Devens business park.

As of the first quarter, asking rents for lab space in the Lexington-Waltham submarket averaged $78.23 per square foot, according to CBRE research. Suburban lab tenants showed a preference for new construction, with 54 percent of the nearly 600,000 square feet of leases signed in Waltham, Lexington and Watertown taking place at buildings yet to be completed.

The transactions included the first lease at 300 Third Ave. in Waltham, where Biocytogen is relocating its U.S. headquarters from Wakefield. Repligen renewed and expanded its headquarters to 150,000 square feet at 41 Seyon St. in Waltham.