Cambridge remains nucleus of biotech boom around state
On the heels of news that global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer plans to consolidate its local operations into a 500,000 square foot campus for about 1,000 employees in Cambridge, industry executives gathered Wednesday to discuss the biotech real estate boom and its impact on commercial real estate trends in the state.
"What is amazing to me is that there is still space left in Cambridge for other companies," said Phil Plottel, ARIAD Pharmaceutical's senior director of global real estate and facilities. "Yes, it's been difficult to find space, but the big bio-pharma coming has made it a much bigger pod. I think that is the big impact and I think what you're going to start seeing in the rest of the state is the impact it has on the overall pod."
The industry insiders who participated in the panel, part of the RealShare Boston 2015 conference at the Omni Parker House, said that Cambridge's Kendall Square continues to be the epicenter for the life sciences and biotech industry because of its proximity to well-regarded universities and the density of other like-minded companies.
"You can walk, literally, block to block and see big pharma companies and knock on their door," Seth Taylor, chief financial officer of Mass Innovation Labs, said.
The clustering of biotech and pharmaceutical companies in Cambridge has drawn other companies to the Greater Boston area — particularly Waltham and Marlborough — and has also attracted companies that provide services to the tech industry.
"One thing I have heard from tech clients is that because of the activity in the Boston area, there is a network of attorneys, of accountants, of bankers, of that kind of consultant and support team that understands the market," William Harris, regional practice leader for science + technology at Perkins+Will, said. "That makes it easier for the companies to do business here and it makes it very attractive for people to locate in Boston."
Fifteen of the top 20 global bio-pharmaceutical companies have a physical presence in Massachusetts, according to Angus McQuilken, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s vice president for communications and marketing, who moderated Wednesday's discussion. But now, as more companies try to move into Kendall Square, they are often priced out or cannot find the amount of space they need, he said.
"Our experience has been that that doesn't mean we lose them to another state. What it means is that they end up in one of these other areas," McQuilken said. "This is a good trend for the state, it means there are more jobs being created that are positive for the people who live in those areas. So there are places for those companies to go, but it may be that they don't end up in Kendall Square."
And as more companies put down roots in other parts of the state, the yet-unanswered question for the region, Plottel said, is "what will the impact be on the Greater Boston area of the spillover from Kendall/Central Square?"
Kendall Square is still primed for growth, though, the panelists said, especially because of its access to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.
If anything is going to slow down growth in the area, Plottel said, it is the unreliability of public transportation.
"The MBTA has got to run every day of the year," he said. "I am responsible for parking and I can't provide parking for everyone who works in our facilities and if the methods of transportation are not reliable, that will cause problems for future growth."
Each of the panelists expressed excitement about the possible redevelopment of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe Center in Cambridge, which they said could be the last major development in the Kendall Square area.
"The Volpe Center is a big opportunity, the question is how much residential, how much commercial, how much life sciences versus how much office space is built," Taylor said. "I think there is a lot of growth available in the area, it's just going to happen in different ways than it has in the past."
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments