Comings and Goings in Cambridge

A host of dignitaries attended the ribbon cutting for Unum Therapeutics’ headquarters.

CAMBRIDGE, MA—The biomedical and bioscience industries here are constantly evolving and changing, expanding and contracting operations and sometimes changing addresses. Perfect examples of the tumultuous nature of this sector can be found in the latest news from local firms Unum Therapeutics and Metabolix Inc . Unum Therapeutics opened its new larger headquarters here this week to facilitate its growth plans, while Metabolix says it will soon move out of Cambridge to northern suburb Woburn in order to facilitate its own expansion initiatives. A host of state and local officials were on hand on Tuesday for the ribbon cutting for Unum Therapeutics’ new 33,000-square-foot office and laboratory headquarters space at 200 Cambridge Park Drive. The space was designed to help facilitate Unum’s anticipated growth to more than 80 employees in the near future, company officials state. “We believe that our ACTR technology platform fuels one of the industry’s most promising immunotherapy drug development programs,” says Chuck Wilson , PhD, president and CEO of Unum Therapeutics. “To reach our full potential, we need to continue recruiting top-level talent. This move allows us to expand our hiring efforts within the world-class Cambridge, MA life sciences hub, to house a larger team of scientists, and to continue to leverage our proximity to leading research and academic institutions and healthcare companies. Unum is excited to be joining a growing biotech community in West Cambridge.” The move to larger space comes one year after the company’s launch. The corporate office move follows several major milestones for Unum including initiation of a Phase 1 study in B-cell malignancies in Singapore, a $65-million Series B financing, and what the company terms as a “major strategic collaboration” with Seattle Genetics. Unum initial operations were centered at the LabCentral incubator program in Kendall Square, where it was located prior to its move to the Cambridge Drive facility. “We are pleased to celebrate the grand opening of Unum’s new headquarters in Cambridge,” says Travis McCready , president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. “This new facility will allow the company to continue to grow and make important contributions to cancer therapeutics, one of the core strengths of our Commonwealth’s life sciences ecosystem. The company’s growth is just one early return on the MLSC’s investment in the construction of LabCentral.” Metabolix, an advanced biomaterials company that is focused on sustainable solutions for the plastics industry, signed a 10.5-year lease agreement for 30,000 square feet of state-of-the-art laboratory and office space at 19 Presidential Way in Woburn. Metabolix expects to take occupancy of the space as its corporate headquarters in June 2016 and will relocate from space it currently occupies in Cambridge. Metabolix’s relocation to 19 Presidential Way will provide the firm with state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and office space, as well as shared conference facilities.  Metabolix plans to exit office space it currently occupies in Lowell, MA in May 2017 and to consolidate its biopolymers sales, marketing and administrative offices and biopolymers research and development laboratories in the new Woburn facility. The new laboratory facilities will include a microbial fermentation lab and an expanded biopolymers applications development lab. Pending the spinout of its Yield10 crop science program, Metabolix will also relocate its Massachusetts based crop science laboratory and personnel to the new facility in Woburn, company officials state. Don Domoretsky , executive vice president of JLL’s life science practice who represented Metabolix in the lease transaction, states, “Metabolix’s relocation to the growing north suburban bio-hub of Woburn is a win-win scenario. Metabolix remains firmly rooted within the world’s leading life science cluster while benefiting from a reduction in operating spending and an upgrade in operations.” According to its corporate website, Metabolix lists its current corporate headquarters address as 21 Erie St. in Cambridge. Its Lowell office is housed at 650 Suffolk St.