MALVERN, PA — Bethesda, Maryland-based Vitrian paid about $70 million for four Malvern-area life-sciences and flex properties, marking its first Philadelphia-region investment and establishing a base for additional acquisitions, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
The nearly 295,000-square-foot portfolio gives Vitrian a foothold in Chester County’s Great Valley business corridor, where pharmaceutical manufacturing and life-sciences companies have established operations. Tenants across the properties include Johnson & Johnson and Charles River Laboratories.
Vitrian acquired the portfolio from a partnership between Berwyn-based Warren Avenue Investors and Los Angeles-based Ares Management.
The properties include 350 Technology Drive, an 81,150-square-foot building that is fully leased, and 280 Great Valley Parkway, a 32,500-square-foot property that is also fully occupied.
The 104,400-square-foot building at 383 Phoenixville Pike is 92% leased, while the 76,561-square-foot property at 2-30 Spring Mill Drive is 68% occupied.
That vacancy gives Vitrian an immediate leasing opportunity. Managing Principal Sam Johnson stated to the Business Journal that the available portion of the Spring Mill Drive property had previously been occupied by a laboratory user and already contains laboratory improvements.
Existing laboratory infrastructure could make the space more readily usable by another life-sciences tenant than conventional office or industrial space requiring a more extensive conversion.
Johnson told the Business Journal that Vitrian had considered entering the Philadelphia market for a “long time” before finding the Malvern portfolio. The property’s locations, tenant base and the area’s pharmaceutical-manufacturing presence contributed to the investment decision.
Vitrian targets properties occupied by life-sciences, pharmaceutical-manufacturing and medical-device companies, along with buildings capable of accommodating those uses.
The company intends to hold the Malvern properties as a long-term investment and plans more active property management and aesthetic improvements. Johnson characterized the portfolio as undercapitalized and underinvested in and indicated Vitrian intends to bring the properties toward what it considers an institutional standard.
Vitrian launched in 2022 and has assembled properties along the Interstate 95 corridor between Washington and Boston, with additional holdings in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Minnesota, Colorado and Arizona.
The company favors clusters of properties rather than isolated acquisitions and intends to pursue additional opportunities in Pennsylvania and the broader Philadelphia region, potentially making the Malvern transaction the beginning of a larger local portfolio.
CBRE represented Warren Avenue Investors and Ares Management in the sale. The brokerage team included Bruer Kershner, Doug Rodio, Jerry Kranzel, Mark Lunney and Tim Morris.
For additional details on the transaction and Vitrian’s regional investment plans, visit the Philadelphia Business Journal at https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2026/10/05/malvern-life-sciences-flex-portfolio.html.
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