Yale’s Decision to Buy Bayer Complex Came Together in Days, Paper Reports

Yale University’s decision last year to buy a 137-acre laboratory complex constructed over four decades by Bayer HealthCare came together “almost in a matter of days,” according to an engaging account in today’s Yale Daily News. Yale paid just $109-million for the complex, a price that works out to $73 per square foot for state-of-the-art facilities that would have cost $650 to $700 per square foot if the university were to start from scratch in downtown New Haven, Conn.

The Bayer complex—partly in the Town of Orange and partly in the City of West Haven—was once West Haven’s largest taxpayer and second-largest employer, the newspaper reports. When the company announced that the complex would close, the university decided that if another pharmaceutical company were interested in the property, the university would let it go—since a company would pay taxes on the site, while the university would not.

But the parties that sought to buy the complex turned out to be developers eager to tear down the labs and replace them with big-box stores, or to turn the labs into offices. Bayer officials, who couldn’t bear to see that happen, were interested in Yale’s offer. Nevertheless, Yale kept quiet about its interest, since the property was being sold at auction. The university won the prize after three rounds of bidding—and paid cash.