"Until a few months ago, there was no space to be had here," a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council tells GlobeSt.com. "Now, with the dot-coms going out of business there is space available."
Initially, space requirements for a biotech startup are small--usually between 5,000 sf to 20,000 sf. As a company makes the transition from research and development to process development--where they figure out the best way to make the product--to manufacturing, space needs go up. Many companies here are in tight quarters and contract out for their manufacturing needs.
The larger companies, like Biogen Inc. and Genzyme Corp., both of which are based here, made recent announcements that they are expanding their manufacturing capacities around the world. Biogen is planning a $350-million facility in Denmark while Genzyme announced plans for new plants in Framingham and Waterford, Ireland, as well as expansion of a facility in Haverhill, England.
In an interesting twist, out in the Greater Boston suburbs space is still very tight for biotech companies. As the council spokesperson points out, the more established high-tech companies, are not going under as quickly and not giving up their space as easily. In Cambridge, where space is much tighter, smaller biotechs are able to easily move into the younger dot-coms that never got off the ground.
In addition to the sudden availability of space, prices here have tumbled in the last few months. At one point, lease rates were edging close to $70 per sf and now rates are in the mid $40s per sf and some local brokers predict that that figure could get even lower.
Lease rates and space aren't the only ways in which dot-coms' misery has become biotech's best friend. As the council spokesperson points out, venture capital money is more available for biotech as investors are more and more leery of sinking their money into Internet-based companies.
Developers of the 450,000-sf former Casey & Hayes building in Brighton that had originally been intended to be an Internet hotel, are now eyeing the biotech sector for potential tenants. Reportedly, the developers are consulting with the Biotech Council about how to refurbish the building for biotech manufacturing space.
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