Image courtesy of Berkeley Investments

A probiotic soda company led by the co-founder of Nantucket Nectars is establishing a new headquarters in the former Sasaki architects building in Watertown.

Culture Pop Soda leased over 6,000 square feet at 64 Pleasant, which Boston-based Berkeley Investments is repositioning as a multi-tenant life science-oriented building following Sasaki’s relocation to downtown Boston in 2023.

The 105,000-square-foot project landed its first tenant last year in clean tech startup Via Separations, which leased 50,000 square feet.

However, the building has delivered into a highly disrupted lab market thanks to a multi-million-square-foot wave of lab space built speculatively during the COVID-19 pandemic. Greater Boston’s 50 million-square-foot lab market had a 21.5 percent vacancy rate at the end of the second quarter, according to research by brokerage Colliers. Even in the industry’s heart in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, the vacancy rate topped 19 percent at mid-year.

In a statement, Culture Pop Soda CEO Tom First said the location will provide space for expansion and enable the company to compete for talent acquisition.

The base buildout converted the 160-year-old former Chase Mills building into lab and R&D space and added a fitness wing, conference center, roof deck and outdoor patio.

JLL’s Nat Kessler and Sam Crossan represented Culture Pop Soda in the lease transaction. Newmark’s Dan Krysiak, Dave Townsend, Juliette Reiter, and Catie Tilton represented Berkeley.