An empty Quebec City complex once owned by biotech company Medicago has been acquired by a group of Quebec investors intending to transform it into a life sciences nexus.

Hugues Harvey, president of Longueuil-based real estate company HarveyCorp, and Marc LeBel, the former president of NuChem Sciences-Sygnature, led the acquisition of 2300 Estimauville Ave. They paid for $17 million for the facility according to published reports.

Other investors include François Laflamme, former president and founder of OmegaChem (which was acquired by NuChem in 2021).

The plan for the approximately 700,000-square-foot facility, according to a release from the investors, is to redevelop the building into a hub for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology companies, as well as incubators and non-profit health organizations.

Tens of millions of dollars will be needed to fund the transition, it adds.

"Centres of excellence are known for driving innovation and attracting talent and private investments. This ambitious project will not only meet the growing needs of the life sciences sector in Québec City but also help strengthen the already recognized expertise of the Québec City region in this strategic industry," LeBel said in the release.

The new owners say several companies have expressed interest in the hub, with plans for redevelopment to begin in early 2025. The first tenants are expected to enter the facility in 2026.

Converting a defunct facility

The site was abandoned in February 2023 following a decision by Medicago's owner Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation.

Medicago developed a plant-based COVID vaccine named Covifenz, which was approved by Health Canada but did not make it to market. It was also denied by the World Health Organization due to the company being partially owned by tobacco company Philip Morris International at the time, as reported by CBC News.

Mitsubishi stopped funding Medicago because of a changing vaccine market, leading to its closure. The vaccine maker’s intellectual property was transferred to Aramis Biotechnologies, a company founded by former Medicago employees.

The facility’s new ownership

The two business partners at the forefront of the acquisition have backgrounds in laboratory real estate development and the life sciences and health technology sectors.

HarveyCorp is an owner, developer and manager in the industrial, commercial and office sectors. It has completed over 500,000 square feet of projects since 2019 in the life sciences field valued at more than $200 million, the company says.

Its projects include:

• 480 Perreault St. In Lévis that has 50,000 square feet dedicated to the life sciences;
• 2350 Cohen St. in Ville Saint-Laurent with 30,000 square feet for life sciences; and
• 4837 Levy St. also in Ville Saint-Laurent with 20,000 square feet for life sciences.

"We are confident that we can develop a transformative project here for industry players and, more broadly, for the entire economy of the greater Québec region,” Harvey said in the release.

LeBel is a pharmaceutical industry veteran who last served as president of NuChem Sciences until August. It had been acquired by Sygnature Discovery in 2023. He founded Quebec-based Anapharm Inc. in 1994.

He is also currently a board member of Laval-based Corealis Pharma Inc. and has a background as a film producer.