Village Fertility Pharmacy expands to Bear Hill Road in Waltham

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By Richard Conn

WALTHAM — Given the tumultuous economy, it may not seem like the best time for a business to expand.

However, that's not the case for the Village Fertility Pharmacy, which will soon move into spacious new 12,800-square-foot digs at 335 Bear Hill Road, a facility more than 10 times the size of its current location on Second Avenue.

Stuart Levine, president of Village Fertility Pharmacy said last week that it's a move his pharmacy wouldn't be able to afford, especially with the recession, without a partnership with King Street Properties, a Boston real estate investment firm.

The pharmacy has a 10-year lease agreement with King Street Properties, which is also building the Village's new facility in the Bear Hill Business Park exactly to the pharmacy's specifications.

"(King Street Properties) are essentially building our office space to suit our exact and specific needs," Levine said.

The new facility, which the pharmacy plans to move into by May 1, will include a larger pharmacy area with a patient care center, rooms dedicated for patient education and a larger retail area for pregnancy and fertility products. The cost of construction is made up in the monthly rent the pharmacy will pay, essentially allowing the build-out to be financed over the course of the 10-year lease agreement.

Levine said by not having to pay to build and retrofit the office space, the pharmacy is saving a huge capital expense.

"They are building a clean room for sterile injectibles," Levine said of King Street Properties. "That alone is a giant expense."

"I can's say enough how great King Street Properties has been." The pharmacy has been been located in Waltham since 2000. In the last year or so, Village Fertility has focused its business exclusively on medications for infertility treatments, Levine said.

Levine said most of the pharmacy's business comes from referrals from infertility clinics. While the pharmacy's customer base at one time came almost solely from New England, Levine said the company has tried to expand its reach into other locations, such as Chicago area and the Southeast.

Leah Harsfield, assets manager with King Street Properties, said the agreement with the pharmacy is part of the real estate firm's "landlord-supplied capital" business model, which she said is a "win-win" for both companies.

Harsfield said King Street Properties is well-suited to retrofit buildings to fit the needs of its tenants, especially those in the biotech field. King Street Properties purchased the Bear Hill Road property in 2006, which had been family owned for years, and made a number of significant improvements to increase the value of the property, allowing the company to lease space there at higher rates.

Harsfield said King Street also performed $5 million to the building at 60 Hickory Drive, which paved the way for the arrival of a new anchor tenant, Virgin Money.

Richard Conn can be contacted at 781-398-8004 or rconn@cnc.com.