90% Leased ABI-LAB Expands Natick Campus with 34K Bio-Incubator & Accelerator Facility

Natick – ABI-LAB, which owns and operates incubator space for research and biotechnology companies, recently opened its fourth facility in Natick, bringing the total campus area to 137,000 rentable square feet. The firm celebrated the opening of the 34,500 SF state-of-the-art facility, ABI-LAB 3, located at 3 Dean Rd. in the Natick Business Park, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that featured an appearance by Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development (EEOD) Secretary Yvonne Hao as well as representatives from the life science community, the construction team, and Mass Bay Community College, which works in partnership with ABI-LAB through the Metrowest Life Science Network. Constructed by Natick-based design/build firm Dacon Corporation, the $16 million, two-story, 34,500 SF facility offers private lab suites ranging from 1,200 square feet to 5,000 square feet, with the option to configure larger spaces.

Most private lab suites include office space and executive suites, with the option to increase or decrease office space as needed. Infrastructure in each lab includes deionized water systems, CO2 gas, a lab wastewater removal system, backup generators, and HVAC to support BSL1 and BSL2 applications. Tenants of ABI-LAB 3 also receive access to the Innovation Lab at ABI-LAB 2. The Innovation Lab is home to over 20 advanced instruments, is available for ABI-LAB tenants at no additional charge, and has three different supply centers hosted directly by Thermo Fisher Scientific.

The ABI-LAB Growth Story

ABI-LAB opened its first facility in Natick in 2015. The idea for the shared services model emerged from the work of co-owner of ABI-LAB, Raphael Nir, the firm’s Chief Scientific Officer. Nir had been helping early-stage biotechnology companies on an informal basis (including Karyopharm, listed on NASDAQ - KPTI) when he and investor Gary Kaufman, now COO and co-owner, recognized the need for incubator space. “We need to buy a building, and we need to do this on a much grander scale,” Kaufman advised Nir. The original facility was the 17,000 SF ABI-LAB 1, located at 27 Strathmore Rd., “but as soon as we opened up, we were full and had a waiting list,” Kaufman tells The Real Reporter. “So we started looking for locations in the same business park.”

Kaufman and Nir met with the owners of a site that had been the original Zayre’s department store (which later became a BJ’s Wholesale distribution center) but were initially turned down by HC Atlantic Development. Instead, the family-owned firm proposed a 99-year ground lease and offered to become 50% partners in the building.ABI-LAB 2, a 68,000 SF incubator and accelerator facility (constructed by Dacon), was built directly across from the original facility at 22 Strathmore Rd. in 2019 and opened in January 2020. Two months later, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

“What we discovered very quickly is that we made some very smart decisions in how we constructed 22 Strathmore,” says Kaufman. “ABI-LAB 2 is a true BSL 2 building, meaning that the HVAC (system) brings in fresh air every 12 minutes, so when it was discovered that COVID was spreading through the air, we became a pretty hot commodity. The building was filled in about 6 months with over 35 companies, and we grew from there. We never shut down, even for one day during COVID. A lot of buildings in Boston and Cambridge were shutting down because the air conditioning and heating weren’t done properly.”

ABI-LAB added a third building, converting offices above the former David’s Bridal Shop and Ulta Beauty in the Sherwood Plaza 18,000 SF of lab space, before breaking ground on the latest facility, ABI-LAB 3, at the site of the long-shuttered Travelodge motel. Completed in late 2024, the new building is filling up quickly, and the occupancy across the entire portfolio is approximately 90%, according to Kaufman. Colliers’ Suburban Markets team of SVP Kevin Brawley, EVPs Stephen Woelfel and Kevin Hanna, and VP John Real are the exclusive leasing brokers for ABI-LABS.

Space at ABI-LAB facilities is roughly 50% cheaper than similar facilities in the Cambridge/Boston life science market, “so we’re the affordable option,” says Kaufman. “Early-stage companies are on a continuous hamster wheel of ‘get data, raise money, get data, raise money… and there are a lot of companies littered along the way that don’t make it – not because their science isn’t good, but because they run out of money. So we provide a move-in ready space that has the infrastructure where companies can move in and start their science the next day.”

Secretary Hao Remarks

While total venture capital funding in Boston’s life sciences declined in the aftermath of the pandemic, current VC activity surpasses pre-pandemic levels, according to global capital data provider Pitchbook. Investments are stabilizing, and Boston and San Francisco are the top two markets in the nation for venture capital financing. Additionally, the Mass Leads Act, the economic development bill signed by GovernorHealey in November 2024, includes a $500 million capital reauthorization of the state’s Life Sciences Initiative over 10 years and an expansion of a tax credit program designed to spur job creation and growth in the life sciences industry.

Within periods of economic volatility, bio-incubators are critical in supporting fledgling firms experiencing downward pressures in research investments, “Massachusetts is the global hub of life science innovation thanks to our robust ecosystem of hospitals, research institutions, leading companies, and incubators like ABI-LAB,” Massachusetts EOED Secretary Hao told the crowd. “We want to help organizations succeed, and what (ABI-LAB) is doing here is just such a great example of that, doing groundbreaking research with all of these startups here to cure the next phase of diseases. (They’re)helping train the next generation of scientists so they can have amazing careers, and(they’re) doing it in a way that supports businesses so they can share space, and manage their capital structure much better.”

Supporting the Next Generation of Scientists

To mark the building’s completion, a $10,000 donation from ABI-LAB and Dacon’s Designed with Dignity philanthropy arm was presented to Valerie Kapilow, Director of the STEM Starter and STEM Tech Career Academies at MassBay Community College. The funds will be used for MassBay’s STEM student scholarships for students pursuing a Certificate or Associate Degree in a STEM major. The $500 scholarships can be used for tuition (for those who don’t qualify for MassBay’s MassEducate and MassReconnectfree tuition programs) or additional student expenditures like books, supplies, software programs, etc.

ABI-LAB began working with MassBay in 2022, with companies in their facilities providing mentors for its students in the STEM Mentor Program, and the relationship has grown over the years.

“ABI-LAB has provided mentors, financial support, hosted field trips, and hired our students,” says Kapilow. “It’s been a wonderful collaboration, and I think both MassBay and ABI-LAB have benefited.”

Ralph Nir

Gary Kaufman

Left to right: Gary Kaufman COO ABI-LAB, Valerie Kapilow – Director MassBay STEM Program, Armand Souliere – COO Dacon, and EOED Secretary Yvonne Hao