506 Carnegie Center in West Windsor — Courtesy: JLL
By Joshua Burd
A biotech firm has planted a flag on the East Coast after taking more than 21,000 square feet of office space outside Princeton, in a newly announced deal by JLL.
Kardigan, a heart health company modernizing cardiovascular drug development, is leasing the space at 506 Carnegie Center from Boston Properties. The new location allows the San Francisco-based firm, fresh from a $300 million funding round, to establish a presence on the East Coast as part of its plans to develop multiple targeted treatments in parallel to help bring cures to those with cardiovascular diseases.
JLL Senior Vice President Vinny DiMeglio represented Kardigan in the 21,489-square-foot transaction. The real estate services firm’s New Jersey workplace strategy team, led by Senior Vice President Kimberly Smith, worked with the tenant to identify a dynamic new office environment that will align with the company’s business goals and evolving employee needs.
“Opening our first East Coast location in the heart of New Jersey’s broader life sciences hub is an important milestone for Kardigan,” said Tassos Gianakakos, cofounder and CEO of Kardigan. “506 Carnegie Center will provide our team with best-in-class space and access to industry-leading talent for further expansion as we continue to advance our late-stage portfolio of disease modifying medicines.”
Gianakakos, Jay Edelberg and Robert McDowell launched Kardigan after they sold the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company they started in 2012 to Bristol Myers Squibb for $13.1 billion, according to JLL. The trio discovered and developed the first cardiac myosin inhibitor, a new class of medications that reduce the force with which the heart muscle contracts and can improve outcomes for irregular heartbeats or sudden cardiac events.
The company’s recent fundraise will be used to advance Kardigan’s focus on areas of most unmet need in cardiology, starting with disease opportunities and patient segments that are resistant or poorly managed on current therapies, including primary and secondary cardiomyopathies that lead to heart failure, JLL said. It will do so with the support of its new office in region known for its large concentration of life sciences companies and leading educational institutions, including Princeton University, the Institute for Advanced Study, Rider University and the College of New Jersey.
Located off Route 1, 506 Carnegie Center spans 280,000 square feet and is part of an acclaimed mixed-use, master-planned campus that is midway between New York and Philadelphia. The 560-acre complex includes a central greenway with jogging and walking paths, on-site dining and conference facilities, athletic facilities, gazebos, sculpture gardens, ponds and an amphitheater, along with an on-site hotel, a post office, a bank, a childcare facility and a heliport.
“We collaborated across the JLL platform to provide Kardigan a suite of services to secure the ideal home in a location that supports the company’s remarkable growth,” DiMeglio said. “This property delivers on every aspect of Kardigan’s vision for their first East Coast office.”
