Kendall Square Dominates Life Sciences. Will It Last?
In life sciences, there's no place anywhere as hot as Cambridge, and the focus is Kendall Square. But speakers at Bisnow's recent Boston Life Sciences event see the chase for prime R&D and lab space expanding into other parts of greater Boston.
The Kendall Square area has seen an astonishingly rapid rise. As recently as 20 years ago, life science companies were scattered around Boston and most landlords didn't really know how to price lab space. The growth came as startups wanted to be near the area's healthcare facilities and institutions of higher learning, and big pharma wanted to partner more with innovative smaller companies.
Now, our speakers say, the nation's top 10 biopharmaceutical companies all have one of their main centers for research and discovery in the Kendall Square market, beside a host of smaller companies developing new drugs and therapies and technologies. But such growth brings headaches for tenants: higher rents and a scarcity of space. Pictured: MassBio CEO Robert Coughlin and King Street Properties principal Stephen Lynch.
Even so, ambitious life sciences companies are streaming to the Kendall Square area. The VC community, an extremely important part of the life science ecosystem, is here as well.
For example, Third Rock Ventures has, since 2009, done about 20 Series A fundings for companies that now occupy 1M SF in the Cambridge market, especially around Kendall. Venture capitalists like the industry synergy of the area, but they also want to be able to walk to the board meetings.
Pictured: Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research global head, campus planning and construction Brian Lynch and Jacobs Global Buildings principal Chris Leary, who moderated.
Kendall might be incandescent as a market, but life science companies are spreading the wealth. There simply isn't enough space. When a company that takes 8k SF of lab space has its drug therapy approved by the FDA, for instance, it might need 40k SF more in a few months. Sometimes, suburban locations are the best alternative. Pictured: Lend Lease SVP Steve Eberling and Commodore Builders project executive Jason Theberge.
The markets beyond Kendall Square have advantages when it comes to designing R&D and lab space. In the suburbs, there's more freedom in siting a building, and towns such as Arlington and Lexington have updated local regulations to be more friendly to life science development.
Does the best life science talent only want to work in the Kendall Square area? That might be true of some Millennials, but as they get older, they tend to rethink that. Pictured: Steffian Bradley Architects principal and design director Chu Foxlin and AHA Consulting Engineers director Tom Joyner, who also moderated.
Finally, a big thank you to all of our partners, AHA Consulting Engineers, Cannistraro, Commodore Builders, Jacobs Global Buildings, Lend Lease, Steffian Bradley Architects, and last but certainly not least, in deep appreciation for their support of Art in Giving, Art in Giving honored Bob Coughlin and Brian Lynch at the event!
