Genzyme Corp. will take the top floor of 55 Cambridge Parkway as part of two leases the biotechnology firm is negotiating in Cambridge.
After leasing an office/laboratory building it did not need, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is reportedly close to dishing off a major portion of the East Cambridge facility at 675 W. Kendall St. to Genzyme Corp., with sources claiming last week that the two sides are negotiating a deal for approximately 65,000 square feet. If completed, the agreement would be the second struck by Vertex since declaring the 290,000-square-foot building surplus last year.
“That does look like it’s going to happen,” one source told Banker & Tradesman. The effort was reported last week on Banker & Tradesman’s Web site, bankerandtradesman.com. The Web article also noted that Genzyme has agreed to lease the top floor at 55 Cambridge Parkway in Cambridge in a separate deal. If both leases are consummated, it would provide nearly 100,000 square feet of activity for the Cambridge office market in the third quarter.
Genzyme spokesman Bo Piela acknowledged last week that Genzyme has committed to additional space at 55 Cambridge Parkway, where it already occupies about 60,000 square feet. Piella was unable to give a clearer picture of the Vertex talks at 675 W. Kendall St. “It’s not something we’re going to comment on publicly, because nothing is definite there,” was all Piella would offer. One source, however, characterized a Genzyme sublease at the building as “imminent.”
Piela could not provide specifics of the 55 Cambridge Parkway lease, but sources estimated the pact at about 32,000 square feet and said it involves the ninth floor of the 275,000-square-foot building. Genzyme’s leasing representative, Trammell Crow principal Joseph Fallon, declined comment on the matter, while brokers for 55 Cambridge Parkway and 675 W. Kendall St. did not respond to inquiries by Banker & Tradesman’s press deadline. Genzyme already leases approximately 60,000 square feet at 55 Cambridge Parkway. Located along the Charles River, the brick office building is owned by Cabot & Forbes of New England. Once home to Lotus Development Corp. in the 1980s and 1990s until that firm was acquired by IBM Corp., 55 Cambridge Parkway was successfully converted into a multi-tenanted building in 2002.
Nearby 675 W. Kendall St. was constructed in 2003 by Lyme Properties on behalf of Vertex, but the anchor tenant never moved into the six-story building, instead hiring Gregory Lucas of CBRE/Lynch Murphy Walsh Realty Advisors to find sublettors for the space. The Broad Institute briefly considered the property, while two floors totaling 45,000 square feet were leased to Momenta Pharmaceuticals last autumn. If consummated, the Genzyme lease would represent the largest coup there to date for Vertex.
According to sources, Genzyme is eyeing part of the fifth floor and all of the sixth floor. Most of the space would reportedly be used for office functions, although 675 W. Kendall St. is primarily viewed as a laboratory building. The structure is located next to Genzyme’s headquarters, also developed by Lyme Properties. The entire Kendall Square complex was sold earlier this year to BioMed Realty Trust for $524 million.
The Genzyme prospects could provide a boost to the Cambridge office market in the third quarter. According to Spaulding & Slye Colliers, the city has a current office vacancy rate of 13.1 percent following positive absorption in the first half of 2005 of 380,000 square feet. Significant leases thus far in 2005 include a 70,000-square-foot deal with a cooking school at 215 First St. and leases by Draper Labs and MedVentive at One Kendall Square, while Architectural Resources of Cambridge also inked an 18,000-square-foot lease at 5 Cambridge Center.
