Life sciences developer King Street Properties is partnering with industry giant Brookfield Asset Management to invest $1.5B in the thriving industry.

Brookfield is purchasing an interest in Boston-based King Street’s nearly 5M SF in both existing and developing assets and will invest the $1.5B in equity capital toward future King Street moves, the companies announced Wednesday. King Street owns 2.5M SF of existing life sciences properties including biomanufacturing facilities in Boston, New York City and North Carolina.

"The new Brookfield/King Street combination will allow us to match the expertise we have acquired over 20 years in the sector with Brookfield's substantial financial resources and reach," King Street founder Thomas Ragno said in a statement.

Brookfield sought King Street amid a promising future for life sciences with an aging population and increasing public and private funding to the industry, Brookfield Managing Partner and Chief Investment Partner Lowell Baron said.

"King Street's team is best-in-class and their market leadership in areas like biomanufacturing is a differentiator that we believe positions them for continued growth,” Baron said in a statement.

King Street is building a 45-acre campus in Devens in Central Massachusetts and is building a nuclear fusion plant for Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a private spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology working toward green energy production. The company this week also signed its first tenants at its 267K SF lab and office development in Long Island City in the relatively small New York City life sciences market.

Brookfield, no stranger to life sciences investment, in December sold a $3.45B, 2.3M SF lab portfolio to Blackstone. That portfolio was part of its own $11.4B purchase of Forest City Realty Trust in 2019. The partnership is the latest in an escalating life sciences arms race in which funding is on pace to shatter last year’s record $28.5B in private investment.

PJT Partners served as the exclusive financial adviser to King Street Properties, while Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal counsel. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as legal counsel to Brookfield.