Ginkgo Bioworks Cancels Move To South Boston Site, Exits Cambridge Locations

A major life sciences tenant has begun consolidating its footprint in the Greater Boston area. 

Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks has canceled plans to move into a 250K SF lab data center and will exit two Cambridge locations as a measure to consolidate and cut costs, the Boston Business Journal reported. 

Ginkgo partnered with Marcus Partners to build the eight-story, 262K SF Foundry at the Drydock lab building. The project was slated to include the company's Biofab1 life sciences data center, which was expected to open in mid-2025.

The site had been toured by members of Congress in February, with the company championing the site as a significant addition to its “R&D-for-service capacities.”

Though the company had earlier said it would consolidate its operations into several facilities including Biofab1, it plans to sublease the space instead. 

“We’re staying at our current site rather than moving into Biofab1,” Ginkgo Bioworks CEO Jason Kelly said during Wednesday evening’s earnings call. “We could get into Biofab1 in the future as we expand our business. I hope we do.”

The company laid off at least 35% of its workforce earlier this year and shut down operations in the Netherlands, the BBJ reported. Ginkgo also sold off a French biotech company it owned called Altar.

The company will also exit sites at Invesco's 10 Wilson Road and 45 Moulton St. at BioMed Realty's Fresh Pond Research Park by the end of November. Ginkgo will still occupy its sites at 27, 23 and 21-25 Drydock Ave. but said “further consolidation in Drydock sites [is] expected in Q1 2025.”

The company was one of the first to have deep roots in the Seaport, the Boston Globe reported. An MIT startup, Ginkgo launched in 2008, moved into an old industrial park in the neighborhood and then Related Beal and Jamestown's Innovation and Design building.