Background

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

Background

Background

1. Background

As used in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q, references to the “Company,” “we,” “our,” and “us” refer to Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., Landlord of Choice to the Life Science Industry®, is the largest owner and preeminent real estate investment trust (“REIT”) focused principally on cluster development through the ownership, operation, management, and selective acquisition, redevelopment, and development of properties containing life science laboratory space.  We are the leading provider of high-quality, environmentally sustainable real estate, technical infrastructure, and services to the broad and diverse life science industry. Client tenants include institutional (universities and independent non-profit institutions), pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, product, and service entities, and government agencies. Our operating platform is based on the principle of “clustering,” with assets and operations located adjacent to life science entities driving growth and technological advances within each cluster.  Our asset base contains 171 properties approximating 14.1 million rentable square feet consisting of the following, as of June 30, 2011:

	Rentable Square Feet
Operating properties	12,672,852
Redevelopment properties	782,258
Development properties	690,139
Total	14,145,249