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A Maryland investment firm is planning to convert a 361-space parking garage into 78,000 square feet of lab space, in a submarket where asking life science rents now average $105 per square foot.

The 17 Farnsworth St. property in Boston’s Fort Point was part of a four-parcel portfolio acquired by BentallGreenOak in 2015 for $162.5 million. The firm notified Boston Planning & Development Agency officials that it’s seeking to demolish the six-story garage and build a four-story lab building.

The property is located in a restricted manufacturing district and will require variances for rear yard and parapet setbacks and a conditional use permit for stormwater infiltration from the Boston zoning board of appeal, according to the notification letter from Reuben, Junius & Rose LLP.

Demand for lab space has been the driving factor behind several recent transactions in Fort Point. San Diego-based Phase 3 Real Estate Partners bought an office building and parking lot at 12 Farnsworth St. for $49.6 million in November as a planned lab conversion.

In December, GI Partners of San Francisco bought a 102,727-square-foot office building at 51 Melcher St. for $74.6 million and submitted plans for a 57,000-square-foot life science conversion.

Life science companies leased 1.8 million square feet of lab space in Greater Boston during 2021, according to a report released last week by Newmark. More than 16 million square feet of lab construction and conversion projects are under way, adding to the existing 27 million square-foot inventory.

Asking rents for class A lab space in the Boston Seaport District now average $105 per square foot on a triple-net basis, the report said.