As the future of Ariad Pharmaceuticals remains in limbo, the company has signed a contract to sublease 41 percent of the new headquarters it built on Binney Street to IBM.
Cambridge-based Ariad (Nasdaq: ARIA) disclosed in a regulatory filing today that the computer giant will rent 160,000 square feet of the new building at 75 Binney St. being built by Alexandria Realty (NYSE: ARE). The entire new headquarters, which also includes 125 Binney St. in what’s being called Alexandria Center, is 386,000 square feet.
Ariad said the initial term of the lease is 10 years starting in the third quarter of 2016. Ariad estimates it will get $115 million for that time period.
There was no immediate word on how IBM (NYSE: IBM) would utilize the space. Big Blue has two floors in a building on Rogers Street, where it houses its security division and research center.
The new building was originally intended to be fully occupied by Ariad, but those plans changed after a major setback in October 2013 slashed the expected peaks revenues from the company’s lead cancer drug, Iclusig, by more than half. The company laid off 160 of its 450 employees a few weeks later, and as of the end of last year it has 379 employees total, 264 of which were based in the U.S.
Earlier this year, following months of speculation that the company may be sold, CEO Harvey Berger announced that he will retire sometime before the end of this year. The company has delayed moving into the new headquarters, but in April he said he still plans for the company to move “next spring.”
