Berkeley Investments’ Exchange 200 project transforms a former bank operations center into 300,000 square feet of life science, lab and R&D space available in fall 2022. Image courtesy of Roberto Farren Photography

Situated along a river just north of Boston is a city that has long served as a gateway community for a diverse population, and has a proud history of innovation and industry. 

Located along a transit line that serves as one of the region’s key knowledge corridors, this city has seen significant new development, with award-winning residential properties constructed, new breweries and restaurants opening, and new life sciences projects both proposed and under construction. While this description might sound like Cambridge or Somerville, the city in fact is Malden. 

Over the last five years, Malden – and in particular, Malden Center – has experienced a transformation that has brought new dynamism and investment to the city. For one thing, the city has seen more than 1,000 new residential units constructed downtown, including the 320-unit, mixed-use J Malden Center project developed by Jefferson Apartment Group, which was recently named the 2021 multifamily project of the year by Multifamily Executive.  

Across from J Malden, Berkeley Investments is redeveloping Exchange 200, a former bank operations center, into a mixed-use “innovation hub” with over 300,000 square feet of available life sciences, lab and R&D space, along with street level retail space anchored by Malden’s first-ever Starbucks and full-service restaurants, Evviva Trattoria and 110 Grill. Exchange 200 is poised to be Malden Center’s largest life sciences and lab hub when it welcomes tenants in the fall of 2022. 

Faces Brewing Co. recently opened a brewpub inside a historic former bank building in Malden Center. Photo courtesy of Faces Brewing Co.

Local small business owners are also helping to transform Malden through significant investment. Idle Hands has quickly become one of Greater Boston’s most popular craft breweries, while Faces Brewery recently opened a brewpub inside a historic former bank reputed to be the site of the first armed bank robbery in the country. Nearby, the only U.S. location of the international “questing” concept Boda Borg offers some of the most unusual and exhilarating experiences in Greater Boston. 

Destination for Young Professionals 

This investment in Malden is being driven by a variety of factors. Critical among them is access. The Malden Center MBTA station is served by the Orange Line and commuter rail, and an extensive bus network north of Boston.  

In particular, the Orange Line has emerged as a key corridor of growth for the region’s life sciences and R&D industries, with companies like Bristol Meyers Squibb, Sanofi Genzyme, and Indigo AG, among many others, flocking to this innovation cluster along the Orange Line corridor. 

Bryan Montgomery

Malden is also home to a young, talented, and growing workforce attracted to the city by a vibrant and genuine urban environment and a diversity of people and cultures. Over 50 percent of Malden’s labor force are Millennials, according to research by JLL and mapping software firm Esri, and its diversity index score of 74 makes it one of the most diverse communities in the state. Malden’s ZIP code has the fifth-largest number of life sciences and seventh-largest numbers of tech professionals of any ZIP code in the region. And with a residential rental market that is 30 percent cheaper than Boston’s, Malden is poised to draw many more residents in the coming years. 

City Has Long-Term Vision  

Malden’s ongoing transformation is not simply the result of broad demographic and economic trends. Instead, it has been driven by planning and a public vision for a reinvigorated Malden Center.  

This vision included correcting the scars left by urban renewal in the 1970s, when a new government center was constructed cutting off the city’s main business and retail thoroughfare. Through an innovative public-private partnership, the city and Jefferson Apartment Group collaborated in tearing down the old government center complex, re-knitting the streets together and constructing the J Malden project in its place, including a new City Hall office-condominium.  

Dan McGrath

Malden has also focused on fostering a welcoming business environment, particularly for life sciences and R&D companies, as evidenced by the city’s coveted MassBio BioReady platinum rating. 

With a talented local workforce, enviable location along the growing Orange Line innovation corridor and proactive leadership thanks to Mayor Gary Christensen and his administration, Malden is poised to see additional investment driven by the expansion of the region’s life sciences and R&D industries. Pioneering lab and life sciences companies are smart to look beyond Cambridge and Somerville while setting their sights on Malden, a gateway city that’s fast emerging as one of the region’s most dynamic, innovative communities. 

Daniel McGrath is senior vice president and director of asset management for Berkeley Investments Inc. Bryan Montgomery is a senior research analyst at JLL.