Originally published in the Boston Business Journal on August 30, 2022.
Growing investment in the state’s life sciences industry has translated into new facilities in Boston’s suburbs and the MetroWest region, according to a new report from the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.
MassBio — shorthand for the trade group — released its annual “industry snapshot” report on Tuesday. Lab and biomanufacturing space grew by nearly 16 million square feet between 2020 and 2021, per the report, reaching 55.9 million. Another 26 to 59 million square feet are expected to be finished by 2025.
Much of that growth is concentrated outside of the traditional biotech hubs of Cambridge and Boston’s Seaport District, where vacancy rates are beginning to rise for the first time in years (although they are still extraordinarily low: a July CBRE report measured a 1.3% vacancy for the two areas).
“Having companies grow at the rate they want to grow is much better than having companies lease space they might not need, because they’re worried it might not be available in the future,” Boncore said. “There’s real opportunity for some of the smaller, emerging firms to find space that might have been out of their reach financially.”