Jim Batchelor
Jim Batchelor
Title: Principal, Arrowstreet
Age: 66
Experience: 42 years
Kendall Square has been central to Jim Batchelor’s life: first as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology grad student studying urban planning and architecture in the 1970s and today, working with top Cambridge landlords on satisfying the high demand for lab and office space in the life science mecca. Batchelor, a principal at Boston-based architects Arrowstreet, worked with BioMed Realty on design of 450 Kendall St., a 63,520-square-foot building geared toward smaller office and life science tenants which is 100-percent occupied by four life science companies and MPM Asset Management. A former president of the Boston Society of Architects, Batchelor is active in industry sustainability and energy-efficiency efforts and chairs the Brookline Preservation Commission.
Q: What was your first project at Arrowstreet?
A: It’s interesting how life evolves. It was working on a series of projects involving mental health and disabilities and how people get cared for by a large institutional system. People were trying to move toward community-based services, and we were involved with planning for those facilities. Those were in Massachusetts and across the country as well. It was a specialty and it worked pretty well and was needed.
Q: What’s the history of 450 Kendall St.?
A: BioMed acquired the rights to develop it through their relationship with (Kendall Square developer) Lyme Properties. The parcel that is 450 had some other incarnations before BioMed developed this building, including a look at putting housing there. It’s so convenient to MIT and it’s got some significant amenities that are associated with it: the waterfront park. There was quite a range of interest in that site. BioMed’s approach said: this is a unique opportunity for the combination of life science and venture capital in a small footprint building. It wasn’t the obvious template for lab projects. The typical project would be looking for a larger footprint. BioMed was looking to do something creative that was going to seem more like a high-value jewel rather than a large-format footprint. It’s about creating something of unique value. The site is also constrained by zoning and Chapter 91. That’s why the building steps back.
Q: What are the complexities of designing a multitenant building?
A: It’s definitely important to be extremely concerned with the core areas of the building. If you have one tenant per floor, you can have an elevator core and another stairway that drops down. The rest of the space is for the tenant. As you make it multitenant, you need a hallway connects those stairs and some number of spaces that are central.
Q: What are the major considerations when deciding whether to convert a building to lab space?
A: The rent differential for lab over office is significant. If you’ve got the opportunity, you’re going to be interested. And there are costs that have to be considered. Typical office buildings do not have the mechanical systems that a lab building will require. They may not have the strength in the floors. And you need a certain amount of headroom floor-to-floor. It gets challenging when the floors are tight.
Q: How did you realize energy savings converting the former Vertex space at 200 Sidney St. and 21 and 40 Erie St. into the new Sidney Research Campus?
A: To get away from the excessive use of what I’ll call lab air requirements, you can zone (different parts of the building with offices) and have air that recirculates and that adds up to significant energy savings. I think that is a story that worked out pretty well. You lose your big tenant and the timing is right and the demand is high, so you do something that’s pretty attractive. They’ve been able to pull that off, switching to a multitenant configuration and a campus. The whole ecosystem has a need for space, not only Kendall Square but in the orbit of MIT.
450 Kendall St. is a 63,520-square-foot building geared toward smaller office and life science tenants. (Photo courtesy Ed Wonsek)
Batchelor’s Top 5 Canoe Trips:
- Bowron Lakes Provincial Park, British Columbia
- Boundary Waters/Quetico, Minnesota/Ontario
- Allagash River, Maine
- Run of the Charles, Dedham to Boston
- The Josh Billings RunAground, the Berkshires
