Photo courtesy of Google Maps

As biotech companies shave their real estate footprints, preferred locations in the East Cambridge industry core have gone from scarce to abundant since 2022.

The latest local life science company to add inventory to the lab market is Sage Therapeutics, which will consolidate its headquarters at 55 Cambridge Parkway.

The publicly-traded biopharma firm will leave behind over 103,000 square feet at 215 and 245 First St. when its leases expire in August, while relocating to 40,419 square feet of office space at 55 Cambridge Parkway.

The firm will pay nearly $2.7 million per year, or approximately $67 per square foot, under the 66-month lease which includes a $3.4-million construction allowance, according to an SEC filing.

Despite the prestige of the Cambridge address for tech and life science firms,  Cambridge office and lab markets haven’t been immune to industry downsizing amid declining venture capital investment.

More than one-fifth of Cambridge’s office market is available, or approximately 2.4 million square feet, hitting the highest level since 2004, according to Colliers research.

More than 1 million square feet of lab space is available for sublease, and the direct lab vacancy rate hit 12 percent at the end of 2023, Colliers reports.

“The amount of sublease space is astronomical compared to what we have historically seen, but it’s providing tenants with the ability to build out space that’s available now,” said Jeffrey Myers, Colliers’ director of research in Boston.

At just under 14 percent, Cambridge’s lab vacancy rate outperforms Boston and the suburbs, which had vacancies exceeding 18 percent at year’s end.

Lab developers continue to invest in speculative tenant buildouts to attract cash-strapped biotechs.

“Landlords are going to get creative and be competitive to fill the vacant spaces,” Myers said. “That will play out into where you see more concentration of the spec suites: where there is competition and tenants in the market, how can you stand out?”