| 
Greatland Realty Partners is the latest developer seeking to reinvigorate a former corporate campus in the suburbs and tap into the life science boom. It’s proposing 650,000 square feet of biomanufacturing at The Campus at Marlborough. Image courtesy of Greatland Realty Partners
Throughout eastern Massachusetts, once-shunned suburban office campuses are in demand for acquisitions amid developers’ newfound zeal both for office-to-lab conversions and sites with ample acreage to build biomanufacturing plants.
Greatland Realty Partners is looking to establish Marlborough as the latest drug production hub following its June 2020 acquisition of the 121-acre Campus at Marlborough. The two-year-old Boston development firm is seeking to build approximately 650,000 square feet of biomanufacturing at the campus, a former 3Com Corp. headquarters that contains 532,000 square feet of existing office buildings.
“With the rental rates of today on [Interstate] 495, it’s really not feasible to build new class A offices out there on the hill in Marlborough,” said Kevin Sheehan, a Greatland managing partner. “What we do see demand for is biomanufacturing which is purpose-built and requires land and infrastructure and scale.”
The implications are huge for suburban Boston commercial real estate, which prior to COVID had stagnant rents and double-digit vacancies amid the migration to downtown workspaces.
Bay State biotechs raised a record $5.8 billion in venture capital funding in 2020, according to industry group MassBio, accelerating firms’ search for space and making underutilized office parks a natural target for lab conversions.
Developments at the state-run Devens business park and former Worcester State Hospital property seek to capture demand for domestic production of drugs. Amid concerns about quality control and national security, some members of Congress even have advocated ending reimbursements for China-produced drugs or providing tax incentives for U.S.-based pharma plants.
Lexington Adds Biomanufacturing to HIP District
Lexington officials’ vision of refreshing the Hartwell Avenue commercial district with mixed-use, higher-density development appears to be getting an immediate response with four pending lab projects. And biomanufacturing could be the next demand driver.
Four developers are preparing to file plans to build life science projects taking advantage of the new rules that allow building heights up to 115 feet and unlimited floor area ratios, Lexington Economic Development Director Sandya Iyer said. Attorney General Maura Healey recently approved Lexington Town Meeting’s passage of new zoning for the Hartwell Innovation Park (HIP) district, spanning 260 acres near Route 128.
In Weston, plans to redevelop the former Liberty Mutual campus as life science space have been dragged into a dispute between town officials and neighbors over adding affordable housing to the project. Image courtesy of Greatland Realty Partners
At 94 Hartwell Ave. a 14-acre site occupied by the former Waxy O’Connor’s restaurant could be redeveloped with an approximately 190,000-square-foot office-lab building.
JLL is marketing the site, which includes wetlands limiting its development capacity.
The property is reportedly under agreement after receiving strong interest primarily from lab developers, according to a real estate industry source.
Welcome Mat in Many Suburbs
Suburban communities that are often hostile to development have largely welcomed the life science influx. Lab buildings and biomanufacturing generate less traffic and municipal impacts than other types of projects.
“We are a platinum-level BioReady community,” said Meredith Harris, executive director of the Marlborough Economic Development Corp., referring to MassBio’s rating system for communities’ ease of life science permitting. “So yes, we welcome it.”
Marlborough officials are reviewing Greatland’s proposed zoning amendment which would add biomanufacturing and mixed-use development to their property. A decision by the City Council could come within weeks, Harris said.
The Marlborough project is one of three suburban life science projects in the works for Greatland, founded by Sheehan and a former colleague at Boston Properties, Phil Dorman. Demolition of a 1980s-era office complex at 1040-1050 Waltham St. in Lexington starts this month to make way for a new 180,000-square-foot life science building called Revolution Labs. Greatland already has received several active proposals for the property, which is being marketed by JLL, Dorman said.
Greatland began considering a lab conversion shortly after acquiring the property in 2019, and received approval from Lexington Town Meeting for the life science project in 2020.
Steve Adams
Local Debate Complicates Weston Project
And in Weston, Greatland is seeking to convert the former Liberty Mutual office park near Route 128 into a life science complex. The existing 20 Riverside Road office building, which totals 83,000 square feet and was completed in 2003, would be converted into labs, Sheehan said. The 50-year-old building at 9 Riverside Road would be partially demolished for redevelopment creating a total 300,000 square feet of life science space.
The project requires upcoming May Town Meeting approval for a zone change allowing lab use. So far, the life science conversion has generated little opposition. But town officials and residents are at odds over the possibility of adding affordable housing at the property.
Some selectmen and Planning Board members have encouraged Greatland to add a housing component. That prompted members of the nearby Blake Estates/Orchard Avenue neighborhood group to submit a letter in March opposing any housing on the property, citing potential reduced home values and increased traffic.
“The town is interested in promoting housing and we’ve been working with the town on that, and we also want to preserve the value of our investment,” Sheehan said. “Our driving philosophy is we want to make a great work environment for our customers, and residential could be part of it.”
