The University of Cincinnati has quietly started shopping its sprawling Reading research campus, hiring a major commercial brokerage to test the market for a site that could shuffle the region’s lab and office landscape. The complex, a cluster of lab and support buildings on East Galbraith Road, was donated to UC in 2001 and was valued at roughly $100 million at the time of the gift, positioning any sale as a potential blockbuster for local real estate.
As reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier, the university has retained a major local commercial real estate firm to market the Reading campus. The Courier, in today's report, noted that UC is moving to put the property formally on the market.
What’s on the market
When the site came to UC, it was described as a roughly 23-acre, 360,000-square-foot research complex donated by Aventis Pharmaceuticals and publicly valued at about $100 million, according to UC Magazine. The property appears in the university’s own listings as the UC Reading Campus on East Galbraith Road, per the UC Directory.
Why the sale matters
The timing lines up with an expansion in UC’s research enterprise. The university’s Office of Research reports more than a 6 percent rise in sponsored awards and roughly $748 million in research expenditures, according to the UC Office of Research.
At the same time, UC is pushing major construction and renovation projects on its Uptown campus that could reshape how and where the university houses labs and research operations, recent reporting from UC News shows.
Who might want it
Large, purpose-built lab footprints are hard to come by, which tends to catch the eye of life science developers, contract research organizations, and institutional investors. National market commentary from major brokerages points to continued interest in well-located lab and industrial properties, even as traditional office demand stays soft, according to CBRE.
The Courier’s reporting did not include an asking price or a sale timetable, and it is not yet clear whether UC will pitch the site primarily as a turnkey lab campus or as a blank slate for redevelopment. Details should come into sharper focus as listing materials roll out, and potential buyers step forward, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier.
