Image courtesy of BioMed Realty

What: Assembly Square development site
Where: Middlesex Avenue, Somerville
Owner: BioMed Realty
Built: 2021 

BioMed Realty plans to develop 1.3 million square feet of office, lab and retail space at a newly-acquired development site in Somerville’s Assembly Square. 

The 7.5-acre property recently acquired from Cresset Group and Novaya Real Estate Ventures for $163 million will be marketed as a destination for tech and life science companies. The first phase of the project will consist of a 420,000-square-foot office-lab building. 

The acquisition augments BioMed’s existing local portfolio in Cambridge and Boston’s Longwood Medical Area and Seaport District, where it acquired the former John Hancock headquarters at 601 Congress St. in January for a lab conversion. 

Cresset Group and Novaya Real Estate Ventures began permitting for the site, located next to Federal Realty’s Assembly Row, before agreeing to sell it to BioMed last year. 

They Said It: 

“Having a world-leading life science developer launch this new major life science cluster in Somerville will open up the growth, jobs and new opportunities our community seeks. Simply put, it opens the door for our city to become a pioneer in the biotechnology space. Assembly Square will become a place where life science professionals collaborate, experiment, discover and advance the nation’s – and world’s – efforts to tackle vital health challenges.” 

— Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone