Signing one of the largest ever regional deals is quite something. Doing that as a two-man band is something else entirely. At the end of last month Dodson Jones advised US REIT BioMed Realty on its £127m purchase of Granta Park, and it could invest in more.
The Granta Park deal was the San Diego-based company's debut into the UK and agents Michael Jones believes it will lead to more purchases. However, he added it was still early days in the ownership with Granta Park and hinted "there is still plenty of work to be done on it".
Michael explained that doing the Granta Park deal was "slightly surreal". The Cambridge-based agency is a two-man band operating out of a modest office in the city centre. For most smaller agencies doing that sort of deal is a bit of a Cinderella story. How do you put a deal of that size together without a research team or a US colleague to help?
Well, luck more than played its hand in proceedings. Michael says a chance meeting years ago at a US life sciences talk while he was still at Colliers meant he bumped into BioMed chairman and ceo Alan Gold. Michael says at the time he remembers thinking the US-focused talk was slightly irrelevant for a UK-based agent. We're pretty sure he's glad he paid attention now.
I asked Michael how the deal came about, who BioMed Realty are, and, most importantly of course, what is the first thing he will buy with his fee from the deal.
Click below to hear his answers. EGi subscribers can access a longer version of this interview where Michael talks about what BioMed Realty does with its assets, if it has an appetite for UK property and what it might be doing in the coming months.
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