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As it pivots from office to suburban life science projects, Boston Properties is proposing a redevelopment of a Lexington office park to create 425,450 square feet of office and lab space.
The Boston-based office REIT proposes a two-building lab complex at its 420-430 Bedford St. property. Located next to a Route 128 cloverleaf interchange, the 21-acre parcel is occupied by a pair of office buildings totaling 168,215 square feet.
Boston Properties seeks to replace the existing 1982 buildings with two office-lab-R&D complexes totaling 425,450 square feet, according to a submission to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) office.
The proposal includes 960 parking spaces in an above-ground garage, and would create an additional 2,744 vehicle trips per day, according to the environmental notification form. Boston Properties plans to begin construction in the second quarter of 2023 with a target completion date of mid-2025.
In a July 27 conference call to discuss Boston Properties’ second-quarter financials, President Douglas Linde said the developer is vacating parts of its Boston suburban office portfolio to plan its next wave of life science conversions.
During the second quarter, Boston Properties inked 72,000 square feet of life science leases at 880 Winter St. in Waltham, which is now 97 percent leased amid a lab conversion scheduled for completion this month. Another two life science leases were signed at 180 CityPoint in Waltham, a 140,000-square-foot development.
“We’ve looked at our Boston suburban portfolio and said, `Which of these buildings can we convert to life science?’ because there’s a lot more life science demand, we believe, going forward, than there will be office demand in suburban locations,” Linde said.
Boston Properties received approval from the Lexington Planning Board in October 2021 to subdivide the 21-acre Bedford Street property into three lots of 15, 5 and 1.2 acres. The company has not yet submitted its application to the Lexington Planning Board, Economic Development Director Sandhya Iyer said.
