The Cambridge Quadrangle’s newest lab building, 101 Smith, was completed in June by The Davis Cos. The West Cambridge neighborhood’s next set of development proposals could shift back to multifamily projects amid the region-wide lab glut and new zoning incentivizing housing. Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
A group of life science developers had their sights set on creating a second Kendall Square in West Cambridge, gobbling up industrial parcels in recent years with plans for state-of-the-art lab complexes.
But that vision may be coming apart amid record lab vacancies across the region, and the fundamentals of development may shift back in favor of multifamily housing.
The commercial Quadrangle neighborhood in West Cambridge, next to the Belmont line, has been a case study of shifting development preferences, aided by a recently-lifted city moratorium on lab development and new requirements for housing in major projects.
‘Your Only Choice’
Boston-based Boylston Properties is the first to take advantage of new Cambridge zoning allowing apartment buildings up to 12 stories in the Quadrangle.
“They gave more height and density than I ever thought,” said Andrew Copelotti, a principal at Boylston Properties. “It’s a recognition by the city that with all of the parcels back there, providing for some density would be beneficial.”
The Boston developer expects to submit formal plans for the 236-unit complex at 745 Concord Ave. by year’s end, he said.
More opportunities for multifamily developers may emerge as the Cambridge City Council prepares to vote late this year on elimination of single-family zoning. A draft proposal would allow 6-story multifamily buildings in all zoning districts.
But the Quadrangle district is considered fertile territory for major projects, because of its larger commercial parcels and surface parking lots.
Housing developments can be built to 145-foot heights, or approximately 12 stories, subject to special permit approval by the Cambridge Planning Board.
For Boylston Properties executives, the logic in pivoting from labs to apartments for their proposed 745 Concord Ave. project was overwhelming. Under the Quad rezoning, labs are no longer an allowed use along Concord Avenue.
“If you have an old 1- or 2-story office, industrial or lab building, multifamily is really, in my opinion, your only choice,” Copelotti said.
Just 22 percent of the building square-footage in the Quadrangle is used for housing, according to a 2023 city planning study.
Denver Developer’s Land Grab Prompts Pause
The zoning approach was supported by groups such A Better Cambridge, which advocates for higher-density zoning to spur housing construction.
“That is an area that has good transit accessibility and recreational areas, and it’s a good place for housing density,” said Justin Saif, one of three co-chairs of local housing advocacy group A Better Cambridge.
The Cambridge City Council’s 2022 moratorium on Alewife-area lab development was prompted largely by the massive acquisition spree by Denver-based Healthpeak Properties, a publicly traded real estate investment trust that spent $625 million to acquire 36 acres in the Quadrangle. In 2022, Healthpeak executives disclosed plans for a mixed-use development to be built over a five- to seven-year period.
A Healthpeak spokesperson last week declined to comment beyond the company’s public filings. During a July 26 conference call to discuss the company’s second-quarter earnings, executives made no mention of development plans or timeline in Cambridge.
Speaking more broadly of the company’s longer-term development sites, Healthpeak CEO Scott Brinker said the company’s first priority is to fill 1.5 million square feet of vacancy representing 5 percent of its operating life science portfolio.
“But if our team continues to sign leases at these big development- redevelopment projects, we could consider activating our land bank,” Brinker added.
Boylston Properties is the first developer to take advantage of denser zoning in West Cambridge, and expects to file formal plans for a 236-unit apartment building with city officials by year’s end. Image courtesy of HDS Architecture
Lab Once Eclipsed Housing
After completion of large multifamily projects such as Toll Brothers’ 525-unit Laurent apartment complex at 55 Wheeler St., life science proposals dominated development proposals in the Quadrangle in recent years.
Developers including The Davis Cos. and Cabot, Cabot & Forbes proposed lab projects to replace surface parking and aging R&D and industrial buildings.
After leasing up a pair of buildings in The Quad, a four-building life science campus spanning nearly 10 acres, The Davis Cos. in June completed the third building, 101 Smith Place, and announced a lease with battery manufacturer Samsung Electronics for 13,604 square feet.
The third-floor space is one of several spec suites built out by the Boston-based developer to catalyze leasing commitments. The 166,616-square-foot building currently lists 155,510 square feet available for lease, according to a CBRE flier.
Steve Adams
Many ‘Should Have Been Multifamily’
Greater Boston’s recent lab development boom contributed to the recent downturn in multifamily housing construction. Life science developers routinely outbid residential competitors for building sites, with hopes of attracting lab rents that topped $100 per square foot in prime life science markets.
But projects approved and built on speculation in emerging life science submarkets such as Somerville failed to attract significant lease activity once interest rate increases and recession fears tightened the flow of investor money to biotech start-ups. Tenants in the market for space have plenty of options even in East Cambridge, where 1.3 million square feet of sublease space is current availability, according to Colliers data.
By contrast, just 900,000 to 2 million square feet of lab tenants are actively seeking space in the Greater Boston market, according to various brokerage estimates.
The 2.7 million-square-foot West Cambridge lab market currently has a 27.2 percent vacancy rate, according to brokerage Hunneman, with over 21,000 square feet of negative absorption in 2024.
“A lot of those projects should have been multifamily to begin with,” Boylston Properties President Mark Deschenes said.
CoStar data analyzed by Colliers shows the typical multifamily rent in Cambridge was $4.43 per square foot as of mid-year, with only 4 percent of the city’s apartment inventory under construction. According to Colliers’ analysis, that’s the region’s fifth-highest rent on a per-square-foot basis after the Seaport District ($5.31), Back Bay and the South End ($5.16), Fenway ($4.94) and downtown Boston ($4.65).
Changes Coming to South Boston Lab Corridor
The largest pending master-planned development in Boston is expected to include thousands of housing units, reflecting the market shifts.
Lab developers including Related Beal, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Breakthrough Properties received approval in recent years for massive life science projects in the Fort Point Channel neighborhood. Only Related Beal’s 1.1 million-square-foot Channelside project, which has yet to break ground, would include housing in the form of 340 apartments, 20 percent of which are income-restricted.
Pappas Enterprises and its partner Oxford Property Group are counting on a heavy commercial component for the future of the Pappas Business Park in South Boston. The 1.7 million-square-foot redevelopment proposes just 205 housing units, with the bulk of the project consisting of research-lab buildings.
But the neighborhood’s largest pending project has committed to a substantial housing component, even before submitting formal plans to the Boston Planning Department.
Procter & Gamble announced in August that at least 30 percent of its Gillette Co. campus redevelopment will comprise housing. Details in the filing indicated that could translate into 1.7 million square feet of residences.
