Image courtesy of IQHQ
West Cambridge’s lab submarket got a boost from an AI-focused startup’s lease at 1 and 5 Alewife Park.
Cambridge-based Lila Sciences leased 246,500 square feet at the West Cambridge campus, after recently raising $250 million in series A financing.
Lila Sciences will relocate its headquarters from 140 First St. in East Cambridge to Alewife Park in 2026, a spokesperson said in an email.
Lila Sciences is backed by Cambridge-based biotech investor Flagship Pioneering and previously raised $200 million in seed capital.
The Boston Business Journal first reported the news. Lila Sciences is currently headquartered at 140 First St. in East Cambridge. The company is developing AI applications in areas ranging from health care to energy and national security.
In 2020, IQHQ acquired the 26-acre Whittemore Avenue campus for $125 million from GCP Applied Technologies for a redevelopment as lab space.
West Cambridge’s 2.6 million square-foot lab market has been hit hard in the life science industry contraction. West Cambridge lab vacancies topped 45 percent at the end of the third quarter, CBRE reported, compared with 17.2 percent in East Cambridge. Citywide, the vacancy rate was 22 percent at the end of the third quarter, with negative absorption of nearly 98,000 square feet.
Prime Medicine, which leased nearly 150,000 square feet in 2021 at 60 First St. in the CambridgeSide development, has listed its entire headquarters for sublease, CBRE reported. A spokesperson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Another biotech-focused company, incubator SmartLabs, recently dropped plans to occupy 140,000 square feet on the third floor of the CambridgeSide mall.
