Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | December 7, 2020 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F Boston developer starting $500M Devens life science complex V E R BAT I M Going online "We believe HomeGoods e-commerce will allow us to leverage both our strength in our home category and the power of our global buying organization and sourcing universe." Ernie Herrman, CEO of Framingham retail parent firm TJX Cos., announcing the new HomeGoods e-commerce option, a departure from TJX's typical in-store only operations Time to give "Fortunately, Reliant Foundation was able to provide the necessary financial support at that time, while maintaining our commitment to delivering this round of annual fall grants." Kelsa Zereski, president of the Reliant Foundation in Worcester, discussing how the nonprofit surpassed its goal of distributing more than $700,000 to area organizations in 2020 Marijuana rulemaking "We certainly wouldn't have taken the action we took today without believing we have the authority." Steven Hoffman, chairman of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, defending the CCC's authority to pass regulations regarding cannabis delivery K ing Street Properties, a Boston development firm that bought three Devens sites this year, is planning a $500-million life sciences complex in a major boon to the former military base. King Street is planning to begin construction early next year on the first of five buildings to total 700,000 square feet of space for drugmaking operations for pharmaceutical companies, with a hope of landing businesses whose headquarters or research-and- development arms are in places like Boston or Cambridge. King Street's plans will add to Bristol Myers Squibb's pharmaceutical facility in Devens as the former military base, now largely controlled by the state agency MassDevelopment, works to build itself out as a major business hub in North Central Massachusetts. Steve Lynch, a co-owner of King Street, said Nov. 23 the firm was attracted to Devens because of an expedited permitting process, available land and utilities and investments made in the site by MassDevelopment. "For all those reasons, Devens was an easy call for us," he said. King Street has paid $7.4 million for three properties in Devens: 45 Jackson Road, a 22-acre site with the zoning potential for 350,000 square feet of development space, including BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor for offices, research and development, or light industrial use; 75 Jackson Road, which spans 11 acres and has the potential for 200,000 square feet of similar uses; and 57 Jackson Road, which includes a 22,500-square-foot office building and 6.8 acres. King Street, which is building without a tenant lined up first, expects the first building to open in the third quarter of 2021. e site's other buildings will quickly follow, with the firm planning to open a new building about every six months, Lynch said. King Street is in active conversations with multiple potential tenants and has hired the international firm CBRE to be a real estate broker for the project. e planned $500-million investment includes construction costs and outfitting the buildings with specialized and costly equipment, including bioreactors and clean rooms requiring their own extra air filtration systems – like a building within a building, Lynch said. King Street has found through talking with tenants in places like Cambridge, Lexington and Waltham what they need most is exactly such a facility: a place where they can manufacture drugs in big, open spaces easily expanded if needed. Devens – which spans parts of Ayer, Harvard and Shirley – got its start in 1917 for World War I as New England's largest military base, but closed in 1996, leading to the elimination of 7,000 jobs. At the time, the three towns voted to give the site to MassDevelopment to help turn the site off Route 2 into a commercial and industrial center. Nearly $200 million in state funds have been spent transforming the old base, including removing hazardous soil and taking down hundreds of barracks. Some still stand in what's known as Vicksburg Square, a cluster of brick buildings in Devens' center. Other developed parts of the base have largely been used for sprawling industrial or manufacturing uses to take advantage of an area with fast- tracked permitting processes and a general lack of residential abutters to complicate building such facilities in most communities. Notable tenants today include Little Leaf Farms, Bristol Myers Squibb, Quiet Logistics and Nypro. In all, Devens includes more than 100 businesses and organizations taking up roughly 6 million square feet and employing more than 6,000 people, a workforce that's nearly doubled since 2012. Roughly 500 residents live in 172 housing units. King Street, which is also involved in remaking the former MetroWest Daily News building in Framingham, is looking largely to the outer fringes of Greater Boston for much of the life sciences growth. "Devens, by the way, is just the start for us," Lynch said. e company, which calls itself the biggest owner of life sciences space in the state outside Kendall Square, is expanding outside Mass. It is nearing completion on a 270,000-square-foot life sciences facility in New York City, and converting a 500,000-square-foot building in North Carolina's Research Triangle. W A rendering of the proposed $500-million, 700,000-square-foot life sciences complex slated to open in Devens by the third quarter of next year ILLUSTRATION/COURTESY OF KING STREET PROPERTIES

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