Image courtesy of JLL

Life science developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities has completed its acquisition of the Watertown Mall property for its latest development opportunity along the Arsenal Street corridor.

The firm acquired the 550 Arsenal St. property for $130 million on Wednesday, according to a Middlesex County Registry of Deeds filing.

The Boston Globe reported in February that Alexandria was in talks with mall landlord Rosen Associates Management Corp. to acquire the 18-acre site, which is anchored by Target and Best Buy. The timing and design of the redevelopment is constrained by a long-term lease held by Target for its store there, the Globe reported.

But the property’s size and large surface parking lot could provide opportunities for construction of lab facilities in the rapidly-growing East Watertown life science market.

The mall is 98 percent occupied by 10 tenants, including the most-visited Target in Massachusetts, Best Buy and the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. The property averages more than 2.7 million annual customer visits, according to JLL, with more than 344,000 residents within a three-mile radius.

The Watertown market has emerged as a logical alternative to Kendall Square as a popular life science and innovation destination. Less than three miles from Cambridge and seven miles from Downtown Boston, Watertown is benefiting from unprecedented westward migration and investment, as tenants seek an alternative for their life science, healthcare and technology-oriented space needs.

The JLL Boston Capital Markets team of Chris Angelone, Coleman Benedict, Nat Heald, Matthew Sherry and Zach Nitsche represented the seller.

Alexandria is in permitting for an expansion of the 29-acre Arsenal on the Charles complex, where it’s proposing two additional lab buildings totaling 215,000 square feet.

Alexandria bought the property for $525 million in December 2019 from Athenahealth.

This report has been updated with information provided by JLL Boston.