Officials Eye New Biotech Tenants for Bristol-Myers' Former Connecticut Complex

After more than a year on the market, Bristol-Myers Squibb finally sold its Wallingford, Conn. facility. This week Massachusetts-based real estate firm Calare Properties acquired the land and buildings for $5 million.

Now the new property owners are looking to quickly lease the space out to other companies, giving top preference to biotech companies, The Record Journal of Connecticut reported. That’s something that will make local officials happy as well. Dawn Hocevar, head of BioCT, a non-profit that supports the bioscience industry in the state, said the BMS complex could “’absolutely’ benefit Connecticut’s growing bioscience sector,” the Record Journal reported.

Calare Properties Chief Executive Officer Bill Manley also told the Record Journal that the infrastructure of the BMS property “lends itself to a biotech use.” 

Bristol-Myers is expected to vacate the 915,000-square-foot facility on 180 acres in Wallingford by the end of the year. BMS announced in 2015 that the majority of its employees at the Wallingford site would be shifted to its Boston facility among others. In October 2016, BMS announced it would shift its operating model to become a “more competitive and agile” research and development organization. Then in December of that year, Bristol-Myers announced it was pulling out of Connecticut altogether by the end of 2018. The company said in December 2016 that the move was part of changes to the needs of its business and its geographic presence.

After placing its Wallingford site up for sale, BMS had some issues selling the property. Last year, the company sought to change the zoning of the property in order to sell it to an unnamed boarding school. City officials overwhelmingly objected and changed the rules to eliminate religion, education and philanthropy as accepted land uses. A large portion of the 180-acre site has not been developed.

With the property in the hands of Calare, now state and local officials are touting the space as a way to grow biotech in Connecticut. Some officials believe the space could be rented to multiple users, particularly startups that could use the lab space. State Rep. Mary Mushinski told the Record Journal she reached out to the University of Connecticut to see if the school could use some of the lab space available on the BMS property.

While questions loom about potential site renters, Calare’s Manley told the Record Journal that his company is looking at the entire 180-acre space for long-term use that includes future development of undeveloped space.