Image courtesy of Studio Gang
The first life science tenant at Harvard University’s new Allston development is a research center that could eventually become home to 500 employees.
Swiss drugmaker Roche and its Genentech subsidiary leased 30,000 square feet in the Enterprise Research Campus development on Harvard-owned parcels along Western Avenue.
Construction is scheduled for completion in 2026.
The Roche Genentech Innovation Center will concentrate on drug discovery in cardiovascular, rental and metabolic health, the companies announced Friday.
Harvard’s private development partner, New York-based Tishman Speyer, broke ground in 2023 on the first phase of the Enterprise Research Campus, located across from Harvard Business School. The office-lab component currently under construction totals 440,000 square feet.
“This new investment highlights Roche’s dedication to advancing healthcare through academic and scientific collaboration and will serve to strengthen an existing relationship between Harvard and Roche that has been in place for well over a decade,” the Swiss drugmaker said in an announcement.
Allston-Brighton’s existing 1 million-square-foot lab market currently has 694,611 square feet of available space, according to a report last week by brokerage Colliers. Along with the Harvard project, major development activity includes King Street Properties’ 576,000-square-foot Allston Labworks project on Western Avenue and the 350,000-square-foot Forum lab building at Boston Landing.
Groundbreaking of the Enterprise Research Campus’s first phase was delayed by a lengthy permitting battle centering on the amount of affordable housing in the project.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu brokered a compromise between developers and neighborhood activists who called for Harvard to take a more active role combating displacement. The university agreed to include 25-percent affordable apartments and establish a $25-million housing fund for Allston-Brighton.
The first phase includes a 345-unit apartment building, the 61,500-square-foot David Rubenstein Treehouse conference center and a 250-room hotel.
