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Thank you to
our sponsors.
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BioStrategy Partners is a virtual incubator
providing technology and business development services to emerging
stage life sciences companies in the Greater Philadelphia region. We
specialize in offering business guidance and support to projects and
nascent companies led by first-time entrepreneurs and scientific
founders, helping them make it to the next level of
commercialization. We offer a full range of support services designed
especially for concept-stage and pre-seed companies, supplied through
our network of expert volunteers, partners and service providers on a
reduced fee, deferred compensation, or co-funded basis. We do not
take equity and rely upon grants, sponsorships, fees, and earned
income to support our operations.
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From the Executive Director
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BioStrategy Partners is pleased to welcome
CresaPartners as a Silver Level Sponsor! CresaPartners is an
international corporate real estate firm that exclusively represents
tenants/space users. David A. Niles, Senior Advisor is based in
the firm's Conshohocken office.
As we approach the holiday season and the end of the calendar year,
I'd like to thank our sponsors and members for supporting BioStrategy
Partners. Our work with first-time entrepreneurs, scientific
founders and principal investigators, as BioSP board member Charlie
Huntington likes to say, is the first lap of the 440 relay! We
hand off the baton to licensors, economic development funders, angels
and early VC further downstream.
Please join us on December 8th for our Practical Knowledge Series
program on real estate for very young companies, followed by our
Holiday Reception, at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research in
Wynnewood.
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Practical Knowledge Series:
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The Impact of Real Estate on Your Bottom Line:
The Do's, Don'ts and How To's.
December 8, 2008
3:30PM - 5:30PM
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
Annenberg
Center
for Medical Education
100 Lancaster Avenue
Wynnewood
,
PA
19096
BioStrategy Partners
Holiday
Celebration
December 8, 2008
5:30PM -Immediately following the above program
CFO: Bookkeeper or Financial Leader?
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Welcome New Members
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Michael Montgomery, MD, CPI, Co-Founder,
Lead Dog Systems
Malla Padidam, Ph.D., President, One World
Biotech, Inc.
Kirk Reinbold, Ph.D., Principal, Med Tech
Solutions
H. Donlon Skerrett, President, Pharmaceutical
Consulting Consortium, Inc.
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CresaPartners Advises Companies to Be
Patient and Prudent - and Not Panic
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By Matthew Feeney
Managing Principal, CresaPartners Philadelphia
The meltdown of capital markets is beginning to shake up the
commercial real estate market in
Philadelphia
. While some
areas of the country are more vulnerable than others, especially
metro centers like
Philadelphia
with large financial institutions, all sectors of the economy are
taking a hit. And while the bailout may start to provide relief
as the government purchases troubled loans, this process will likely
take an extended time, and the prevailing feeling among corporate
real estate executives will continue to be
uncertainty.
So what is our advice to tenants during these unsettled times?
We are counseling them to be deliberate and strategic. Indeed,
companies can find a silver lining in today's volatile economy if
they do the following:
- Exercise greater control. It's now a
tenants' market, which gives companies more leverage in dealing
with landlords who desperately want to hold onto credit-worthy
tenants. Tenants should keep this in mind as they consider
negotiating new lease terms like expiration rights as well as
new tenant improvements and additional concessions.
Companies with leases approaching expiration should determine
what assets they want to hold onto and what they might dispose.
Companies with longer-terms leases may want to consider
disposing space, especially if they face job layoffs. And all
companies should make sure that decisions on short vs. longer
term leases are aligned with their business
plan.
- Protect the bottom line. It’s now more critical than ever for companies to protect their assets and cut costs. Real estate remains the second greatest corporate expense, following payroll, and the risks today are enormous. In considering cost-saving measures, tenants should note that if they negotiate directly with landlords (as opposed to outsourcing to service providers), they may overpay by about 20%. And they can save more by partnering with a firm that exclusively represents them, not landlords.
- Think strategically and long term. Another way to save in the long run is to make modest upfront investments in strategic planning and project management. By working with project managers, companies can reconfigure their space and improve productivity. This is particularly important to companies that may need to downsize or “right-size.
- Ask about conflicts of interest. Landlords wary of their cash flow are now putting enormous pressure on brokers to close deals. This can be problematic to tenants when they consider that brokers from traditional firms (which represent tenants and landlords) cannot adequately serve two masters and avoid conflicts of interest. Especially in this environment, tenants need to ensure that their broker is putting their interests first.
In the final analysis, we are telling tenants that we feel their pain. Their fears of the unknown are partly justified because no one knows exactly how the bailout will play out. But we do know that this is a time for patience and prudence, not panic. The meltdown is a reality, and we may now be witnessing just the tip of the iceberg. But commercial real estate is built on a firm foundation, and we can take steps to weather the storm.
About CresaPartnersCresaPartners is a member of BioStrategy Partners’ All Partner Committee for BioLaunch611+ Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ), and acts as a consultant to a second KIZ in suburban Philadelphia. We contribute to companies’ success by helping entrepreneurs understand real estate’s ramifications for their bottom line and providing guidance in the decision making process..
We feel that developing relationships with "pre-seed" companies is invaluable. Our understanding of the Life Science, Biotech, and Pharmaceutical Industries along with the Medical Device space, coupled with our expertise and knowledge of commercial real estate have proved invaluable to our clients. We have the capacity and interest to work with the very young company as well as the multi-national institution. We are very one sided in our approach. Our fiduciary responsibilities lie with our clients/tenants, always!
Matthew Feeney is Managing Partner of CresaPartners in Philadelphia. CresaPartners LLC an international real estate firm that exclusively represents tenants. With more than 50 North American offices, CresaPartners is the largest pure tenant representation firm in the world. Through a partnership with Atisreal international real estate group, CresaPartners is a member of one of the leading real estate organizations in the world, covering 35 countries. For more information, visit www.cresapartners.com |
News From Our Community
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BioLeap LLC, a global leader in predictive drug
discovery, is pleased to announce that David L. Pompliano, PhD has
joined BioLeap's Advisory Board.
"Dr. Pompliano is broadly recognized in the pharmaceutical
industry as a senior executive with extensive drug discovery and
early development experience in infectious diseases, oncology and
musculoskeletal diseases. We are privileged to have the
opportunity to work with David as we leverage our new techniques in
computational fragment-based ligand design to become the recognized
leader in small molecule drug discovery and development",
commented Dr. John Kulp, CEO of BioLeap. "I believe the
BioLeap approach can truly accelerate the Drug Discovery process and
is particularly useful when applied to historically intractable
targets", commented Dr. David Pompliano, "I am pleased to
be part of the team that is improving the process of drug
design."
Temple
University
SVP for Research and BioSP Board
Member Larry Lemanski is in the news! Articles in The
Philadelphia Business Journal and
Temple
Times
both highlight the
growing prominence of
Temple
's
research enterprise.
Click here for The Philadelphia
Business Journal article.
Click here for The Temple Times
article.
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