Image courtesy of Dimella Shaffer

A 335,000-square-foot lab development that was completed in 2025 is on the market after failing to attract tenants even after the buildout of three speculative suites.

CBRE is marketing 440 Bedford St. in Lexington, which was developed by Trammell Crow Co. of Dallas. The base building construction was completed in January 2025. Three spec suites totaling nearly 60,000 square feet are completed, according to an offering sheet.

The property is offered as a fee-simple equity sale on an unpriced basis. It contains a 60-40 lab-to-office mixture.

“The development risk has been retired, the capital has been spent, and what remains is the lease-up,” the flier states.

Lexington officials approved the project, built on the former Quality Inn and Suites hotel site, in November 2021 when demand for lab space was around historical highs.

It was the first project approved under the town’s Hartwell Innovation Park (HIP) zoning district, which sought to attract more life science development to commercial corridors near Route 128.

An Invesco affiliate acquired the property in 2022 for $30 million, and Western Alliance Bank provided $168 million in construction financing.

The suburban lab market continues to struggle with high vacancies. The Route 128 Belt submarket had a 27.2 percent vacancy rate at the mid-year point, according to a report released this week by Hunneman. The submarket contains 15.8 million square feet, representing over two-thirds of the Boston suburban lab market.

According to a mid-year market presentation sponsored by the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, formerly NAIOP-MA, nearly half of the lab projects built since early 2023 in Greater Boston are now controlled by lenders who provided $5.3 billion in financing. Of nearly 18 million square feet of lab space built in that period, 11 million square feet is still available.

CBRE Vice Chairman Scott Dragos leads the capital markets team marketing the property.