Lexington Technology Park has build-to-suit options being considered by potential tenants, and is also entertaining a bid to lease a substantial portion of 300 Patriot Way, an existing property in the park.
The life sciences landscape in Massachusetts remains split into two categories – Cambridge and Everywhere Else – but increasingly, there does appear to be more “everywhere else” in play.
Once scattered in a few pockets such as Framingham or Worcester, the life sciences arena is emerging as a critical aspect of commercial real estate beyond Cambridge’s world-recognized borders into markets heretofore the domain of the computer, defense or financial services industries. Biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies are now ubiquitous throughout the region, occupying space in communities as far afield as Marlborough, Peabody and Wilmington and for diverse purposes ranging from administration and support to research, manufacturing and distribution.
“The suburbs have absolutely become a bona fide, sought-after alternative for [life sciences] companies,” acknowledged Richards Barry Joyce & Partners President Robert B. Richards Jr., whose real estate services firm sports several professionals with brokerage expertise in that field. While stressing that Cambridge remains the prime destination, Richards said cost, availability and other real estate intangibles have expanded the mindset of where success can be attained in the highly volatile medical industry.
“Price is driving a lot of people (outward) these days,” said Richards, particularly beyond the Route 2/128 corridor that includes Bedford, Concord, Lexington and Waltham. Richards, who terms that strip “the life sciences highway,” credited the proximity to Cambridge for attracting a critical mass of biotechnology and pharmaceutical operations in recent years. The draw there actually is less about price and more involving quality of life and access to Cambridge, said Richards, with established companies especially drawn to the suburban environment due to changing lifestyles of executives and other employees.
Whatever the reason, numerous life sciences operations are now established along central Route 128 and Route 2, including AstraZeneca, Cubist Pharmaceuticals and CIS-US. The Bulfinch Cos. scored an early coup by luring Antigenics to Lexington two years ago, while the former Raytheon Corp. headquarters in Lexington has brought in such well-known firms as Nitromed and Hypnion. Patriot Partners LLC is now actively negotiating with other life sciences prospects for the 95-acre complex, which is now known as the Lexington Technology Park.
Partly due to a dearth of investment capital coming from Wall Street, Richards said life sciences growth has been torpid for a good portion of 2005, but with the final quarter of the year approaching, observers report the situation appears to be getting better. “Activity has definitely picked up,” Patriot Partners principal Joseph Zink said last week, adding the conditions have been on the upswing for slightly more than a month. Lexington Technology Park has build-to-suit options being considered by potential tenants, and is also entertaining a bid to lease a substantial portion of 300 Patriot Way, an existing property in the park.
The latter deal, which Zink declined to discuss in detail, would require an extensive renovation of the 135,000-square-foot property, but Zink said his firm may well do the upgrade on a speculative basis if the current negotiations do not result in a lease commitment. “We want it ready” for the improving market, Zink explained.
Boston’s northern suburbs are also taking refuge from the lingering economic downturn that has beset the Bay State by engaging the life sciences industry. Extending up Route 128 past Wakefield, the industry is also growing along Interstate 93. Andover has secured several major companies in recent months, including Straumann AG and Smith & Nephew. Just last week, Draeger Medical Systems announced completion of a 128,000-square-foot lease at 6 Tech Drive.
Efforts to contact Draeger officials were unsuccessful, but in a release announcing the move, Draeger CEO Marcus Aben tabbed location and a variety of tenant amenities for selecting Andover after previously being situated in Danvers. The landlord, CrossHarbor Capital, was represented by Brian Hines and Mark Mulvey of Trammell Crow Co., while the tenant was represented by Jim Thomson, Rich Ruggiero and Torin Taylor of Cushman & Wakefield.
One firm which has captured an impressive amount of life sciences business in the new millennium is Cummings Properties of Woburn, which now has 1.4 million square feet of its 8-million-square-foot portfolio occupied by denizens of that industry. According to Cummings leasing director John Wiseman, the sector has nearly tripled its space occupancy at Cummings since 2001. “As our portfolio continues to mature, it is playing an increasingly important role,” Wiseman said of the life sciences industry. “We think it works very well with our business model.”
Offering life sciences quarters at roughly half the $40-plus it costs for laboratory space in Cambridge, not to mention providing free parking, price has indeed impacted the allure of Cummings, according to Wiseman, who also cited keeping in contact with industry players and word-of-mouth for stoking tenant demand. One company recently signed on at West Cummings Park for 5,000 square feet of laboratory space because a principal of the firm had previously occupied space at Cummings, said Wiseman.
According to Wiseman, whose firm has its own in-house design and construction staff, the one-stop shopping not only saves on the cost to build out, but also enables Cummings to turn the space over more quickly than at other properties. “If they can get into a laboratory six weeks earlier, that’s better for them and better for us,” Wiseman said.
Whatever the attraction, Cummings Properties has managed to bring in such well known companies as Fisher Scientific, Proteome Systems and U.S. Genomics. Some, such as BioProcessors Corp., have occupied space since the early growth stages, with that firm expanding into some 30,000 square feet of space at present. Cummings Properties has the ability to service companies with an international reach, but Wiseman said the firm is always eager to assist fledgling local startup firms as well, even providing build-out financing. “That’s a real advantage for some companies,” said Wiseman. “It can make a big difference in their success, and we want to do everything we can to help them (achieve) that.”
Although he concurred that the Cambridge address carries a certain cache important to many life sciences firms, and agreed it will remain the mecca for the industry going forward, Wiseman said the geographic scope is expanding quickly, and should continue in that direction. Gill Street in Woburn has a concentration of life sciences companies in Cummings buildings that previously serviced industrial and distribution companies.
According to Wiseman, single-story facilities typically found in the suburbs are often more functional for lab and research space than multi-story urban buildings, making the transition even more streamlined. Cummings has added windows and new facades to many of the buildings, plus enhanced landscaping, but the properties naturally lend themselves to the life sciences needs through easier venting, more efficient layout and generous ceiling heights. Cummings Center in Beverly, for example, has become home to several such firms due to those physical attributes, Wiseman explained.
