Pharmaceutical Giant Moving Out Of 635K SF Building In Rockville
International drug developer GSK is leaving a massive Rockville research and development facility that was custom-made for a company it acquired.
GSK is moving out of its 635K SF footprint at 14200 Shady Grove Road, where it is the sole tenant, just before its lease expires in the summer of 2026, a spokesperson confirmed to Bisnow. The Washington Business Journal first reported the planned move.
With the move, the company is expanding its presence at the Cambridge Park Drive campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it eventually intends to occupy six floors, the spokesperson said. GSK has three other locations in the Boston area.
“With the opportunity to expand our footprint in Cambridge, and the lease of the Rockville Vaccines site at 14200 Shady Grove coming up for renewal, we were able to align our location strategy with our R&D ambition and innovation leadership, including attracting and retaining key talent,” a spokesperson said in an email.
The Rockville property is owned by GI Partners, which acquired it on behalf of The California State Teachers' Retirement System in 2017 for $337.5M. The owner took out a $138M loan from Goldman Sachs, per the WBJ, which was then packaged into two CMBS loans.
Those loans mature in January 2027, according to Morningstar Credit.
GI Partners didn't respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
GSK is planning to remain at the facility through March 2026, roughly two months before its lease expires, the spokesperson said. The building houses its vaccines research and development and infectious disease teams.
There are 450 employees working out of the site, according to the WBJ. It’s unclear how many employees will be moving to Cambridge.
GSK plans to retain its other Rockville property, Belward Campus Drive, a 420K SF manufacturing facility, it told Bisnow.
Scheer Partners is marketing the entire property at 14200 Shady Grove Road. The property was built for Human Genome Sciences in 2003 and renovated in 2016.
“Really looking forward to seeing the market grow in this building,” Scheer Partners President Matt Brady told Bisnow. “It’s the first time we’ve really had density like this of any trophy class lab space, and so it gives us a great opportunity to get a cluster of tenants or a major user to step into the market.”
Suburban Maryland’s I-270 corridor is one of the nation’s top life sciences hubs when it comes to funding and access to talent. It is also the home of federal government agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, as well as top research institutions like the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University.
In line with national trends, funding and development in the corridor has slowed over the past year and a half after a surge during the first years of the pandemic. In 2024, venture capital investment in D.C.-area life sciences companies was at its lowest since 2019, with just under $914M invested, according to Savills' fourth-quarter report.
