NewHavenBIZ

16 n e w h a v e n B I Z | J u n e 2 0 2 1 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m Market Uncertainty Opportunities, challenges face New Haven's post- pandemic office market S cott Phillips is looking forward to the move. On June 1, Phillips, the CFO of Halda erapeutics, an emerging biotech company, and his colleagues will officially begin working in their new 9,800-square-foot lab and office space in New Haven, at the former Winchester Arms Factory, 115 Munson St. e newly-renovated, state-of-the-art lab is part of the larger Winchester Center devel- opment, a multiyear, multi-phased, mixed- use project that will include apartments, retail and research facilities to support New Haven's growing biotech ecosystem. Phillips says Halda erapeutics, which was founded by Yale researchers, is moving from its current Branford location to be closer to the university. But finding the right commercial space proved challenging, he says, because many of the locations available in the Elm City were not ready for lab space. at's slowly changing as private devel- opers are both renovating existing buildings and developing new large-scale projects to meet growing demand. In addition to the Winchester Center plan, another major development — a new 10-story, 500,000-square-foot bioscience lab and office space — will start construc- By Matthew Broderick tion this June at 101 College Street and feature specialized labs, research and incubator space. Such developments reflect the opportuni- ties for New Haven, but also the challenges faced by current commercial property own- ers — especially in the office market — who are confronting potential tenant downsizing as companies consider hybrid or complete remote work models in a post-COVID 30,000-square-foot lease at 123-127 Church St., by two-thirds. It's a trend that Chris Ostop, a managing director of brokerage firm JLL's Connecti- cut operations, says will have a short-term impact, estimating that companies with ex- piring leases could cut their office footprint by 10 to 15 percent, on average. But he's confident the in-person office environment will survive. "If you need to have knowledge transfer and collaboration, it's harder to do that [from] home," Ostop said. He says the hybrid model may be driven less by industry or company than by an employee base. world that's still in flux. In the immediate-term, that seems to be having an impact in New Haven. For the first quarter of 2021 commercial vacancy rates overall in the city rose from 17 percent to 18.7 percent, according to a market report by brokerage firm Colliers. e report noted that Square Nine Soworks, a business document manage- ment soware company, is reducing its The Winchester Center development in New Haven is a multiyear, multi-phased, mixed- use project that will include apartments, retail and research facilities to support New Haven's growing biotech ecosystem. Chris Ostop, a managing director of brokerage firm JLL's Connecticut operations, says companies with expiring leases could cut their office footprint by 10 to 15 percent, on average, but he's confident the in-person office environment will survive. PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER RENDERING | CONTRIBUTED

• Cover