Based on the designs of GSP Architects, state-of-the-art laboratory and office space in S1 and S2 standard is being built on an approximately 4,200 sqm site in Gräfelfing, in close proximity to the city limits of Munich and the Innovation and Start-up Center Biotechnology (IZB) in Mar-tinsried. With the start of civil engineering works in mid-November 2021, Aventin Real Estate has given the go-ahead for the realization of the Life Science Center, a 9,200 sqm research and development building in the middle of the biotech cluster in the south of Munich. The building itself will be LEED-certified, with the platinum standard being the target. The company was able to secure Crelux GmbH, which is currently located in the IZB, as its first tenant.

Volker Dittmeier, Managing Director of Aventin Real Estate: “We are delighted to be able to construct a research building in our home market of Munich that supports and promotes the innovative power and immense dynamism of the biotechnology sector. Already in the conception of the building numerous recommendations of the future users have been taken into account, which enables us to ensure that our object is of a very high quality technically, conceptually and beyond that also with regard to the design”.

The first lease agreement with an anchor tenant was signed just in time for the start of construction: CRELUX GmbH, a provider of drug discovery solutions and the subsidiary of one of the world’s leading providers of R&D and production services in the pharmaceutical and health care industries, WuXi AppTec, will relocate its site from Martinsried to Gräfelfing and occupy part of the rental space in the Life Science Center. The move is planned for 2024.

“We would like to thank the IZB and Dr. Zobel’s team for being an active discussion partner during the conception of the Life Science Center, its design and technical building equipment. We are very pleased that with CRELUX GmbH, our first tenant in the property, we have also immediately found in the IZB. This is confirmation for us that our sustainable new building is very well suited to the growing laboratory and office space requirements of the biotechnology sector in the Martinsried cluster,” says Dittmeier.

Dr. Gundel Hager, Managing Director of CRELUX GmbH: “We are pleased to be able to maintain our roots in the center of cutting-edge technology, the Life Science Campus Martinsried, by leasing the space in the Life Science Center. By renting in a technically and eco-logically optimized new building, we are creating the necessary conditions to continue our dynamic growth in the future.”

“I am very pleased that we were able to motivate Aventin to build a laboratory building into which our “adult” start-ups can relocate. This successfully helps to further expand the site and open up the possibility for further growth opportunities for the biotech companies. Certainly, other entrepreneurs will follow the example of Crelux in order to stay close to the Hotspot for Life Science”, explains Dr. Peter Hanns Zobel, Managing Director of the Biotechnology Innovation and Start-up Center (IZB).

The municipality of Gräfelfing, located in the southwest of Munich, together with its neighboring municipality Planegg-Martinsried, has developed into one of the most important life science clusters in Europe over the past 25 years. Today, the Martinsried/Großhadern science campus is one of the largest European centers where basic scientific research, teaching, clinical research and technology innovation are brought together in close proximity. More than 100 companies from the life science sector – startups as well as internationally successful corporations – have since settled on and in the vicinity of the science campus and the “Biotechnology Innovation Center”; their growth, innovative strength and success are proof of the attractiveness of the location.

Dr. Kilian Kasperek, Managing Director of Aventin Real Estate “With the establishment of the Life Science Center in Gräfelfing, we have specifically chosen the core region of the biotechnology industry in Germany. Discussions with a large number of user representatives and industry experts have confirmed to us that our product is able to meet all the necessary requirements of life science users. In the meantime, we have already acquired further sites in selected biotech and pharma hotspots. There we want to implement our experience and know-how by building further life science centers.”

Aventin Real Estate develops and realizes sophisticated real estate projects for contemporary living, working and living in Germany. Furthermore, Aventin Real Estate invests in existing properties with added value potential.