Cambridge Lab Space

With lab space at a real premium in Cambridge, it is important to have help when trying to buy or lease it. As a leader in Boston commercial real estate, Boston City Properties is here to help. While Cambridge’s office space market has contracted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, lab space demand has gotten even more robust. Spurred by Moderna Therapeutic’s development of a COVID-19 vaccine, many Boston-area firms are busier than ever with life sciences activities. Although lots of new development has been underway in Cambridge, the vast majority of it was pre-leased long ago.

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About Lab Space in Cambridge

As of the fourth quarter of 2020, Cambridge had 25,146,343 square feet of laboratory and life sciences space. Of that total, 807,890 square feet was considered available – a vacancy rate of 5.7%. The market is incredibly tight in East Cambridge, which has 20,206,234 of the city’s lab space; only 452,377 square feet was available. All of the new laboratory buildings opening in December 2020 had been pre-leased, 70% of those delivering in 2021 are spoken for and one-third of the labs opening in 2022 are leased already as well, so this new construction activity will do little to help.

Low Vacancy Rates Prompt Firms to Look Elsewhere

Laboratory space in Cambridge is so scarce that some of the market’s top players are starting to look elsewhere for more. BioMed, which just purchased the Brookfield portfolio in East Cambridge – making it the largest lab owner in the submarket – recently joined Sommerville’s Xmbly development. The firm is also under contract for more space in the Seaport. Meanwhile, Alexandria has been acquiring space in Waltham, Watertown and Boston.

However, while East Cambridge seems to be as full as it can get, other areas of Cambridge are starting to see surges in life science development. Soon enough, Alewife could be the new hotspot in Cambridge for laboratory properties because many properties off of Concord Avenue are likely to be redeveloped into labs in the not-too-distant future. With its relative proximity to the Red Line, Alewife is a reasonable alternative to East Cambridge.

Converting Lab Space in Cambridge

Overall, the Cambridge commercial real estate vacancy rate increase to 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2020, mostly due to companies offloading unneeded office space. Even after the pandemic is more contained, many companies may continue to allow employees to work remotely, further reducing office demand. Therefore, many office properties in Cambridge could become prime targets for redevelopment into life sciences space.

Converting office space to lab space is easier said than done much of the time. Labs have specific requirements, including very high ceilings and firm foundations. Lab tenants typically need to occupy their new space within 12 months, but conversions can take longer than that. Firms that want to convert Cambridge office space into lab space should focus on properties that will require as little work as possible to ensure that delivery happens quickly enough.

Need Cambridge Lab Space? Boston City Properties Can Help

If you need existing lab space in Cambridge, Cambridge Crossing and Alewife are the best places to look right now. If you are open to buying an office property and converting it to lab space, there are plenty of opportunities in that area too. However, keep in mind that conversions are often expensive and complicated, and rezoning may even be necessary. As involved as all of this is, it’s crucial to have the right assistance. Boston City Properties can give you a referral to a Cambridge tenant representative who can help you secure the lab space you need, so contact us today.