In Green Report - Ferocious Demand and Growth For Lab Space Caps Historic Year

BOSTON–According to the most recent ‘Green by Bridge’ report (An in-depth analysis by Bridge, the Lab brokerage team of Perry-Scheer Real Estate), An historic year of expansions, funding activity and regulatory successes closed, finalized with a 900,000 sf commitment by Sanofi to occupy space in buildings at Cambridge Crossing, which DivcoWest will develop for them. (Read Sanofi story here)

Tenants absorbed 468,000 sf of biotechnology-focused laboratory real estate in Greater Boston in the fourth quarter of 2018, with much of that growth occurring at the last of the Alexandria Center at Kendall Square buildings to be delivered. Bristol-Myers Squibb took occupancy of 208,000 sf, while Facebook’s move into 133,000 sf furthered a trend of traditional office users paying significant premiums for Kendall space, even when that space was developed for lab use. As a market vacancy of 1.5 percent, down from 1.7 percent, reflects even higher space constrictions in areas most widely preferred by biotechs. As space shortages remain acute and critical, developers are moving to create viable new clusters of bioactivity.

Infamously known, a lab cluster, potentially one of the most effective concentration of activity and enablers of this ecosystem, is the funding environment. Review a brief analysis of the IPOs of 2017 and 2018, and their global, but also an incredibly close roster of capital sources. The report indicates 47% of pre-IPO capital was sourced from within two miles of the (Cambridge) companies, while 77% of pre-IPO capital source came from a firm with a primary Boston-area office.

Much more Inside the Green by Bridge Report