Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | September 27, 2021 | wbjournal.com Mini-cluster As Boston and Cambridge stay as worldwide hubs for the life sciences industry, Worcester is trying to carve out its own niche in biotech BY KATHERINE HAMILTON Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer L ocated adjacent to the Polar Park baseball stadium in Worcester, the planned Le Field Building is a $16-mil- lion symbol of the ambitious plans in the city for the life sciences as a catalyst for its ever-evolving develop- ment efforts. "at's a massive investment, and it's a massive thing to have life sciences right in the middle of Worcester. It'll be pretty revolutionary in how the city approach- es and views life sciences," said David Sullivan, economic development and business recruitment associate at the Worcester Regional Chamber of Com- merce. "is is a big part of our city, and it's right in the middle because of that." e Le Field Building, which is tentatively slated for a 2023 opening, is one of three planned eight-figure developments meant to further grow Worcester's foothold in the life sciences field, which already includes UMass Chan Medical School, a major facility of Illinois-based AbbVie, and the 36-year- old incubator Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives. e other major planned developments are both at the 46-acre Reactory biomanufacturing campus: the $60-million facility from China-based WuXi Biologics and the $50-million project from Galaxy Life Sciences, which – like the Le Field Building – is still waiting on a final tenant to agree to move into the site. Along with the San Francisco area, Boston-Cambridge is a leading life sciences hub in the country, which has led to biomanufacturing, biopharma- ceutical, and biotechnology efforts to expand westward in Massachusetts. e MetroWest region is home to several large medical manufacturing companies like Waters Corp. in Milford and Boston Scientific in Marlborough. In North Worcester County, Devens is home to a major facility from New York pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb, which is planning a 244,000-square-foot expansion. Other planned facilities in the region include the $500-million life sciences campus in Devens from Boston developer King Street Properties, the $150-million facil- ity in Boxborough from Arranta Bio, a microbiome contract man- ufacturer, and the $41-million facility expansion in Devens from medical device contract manufac- turer SMC Ltd. And COVID-19 only furthered the importance of the biotech industry, said Ben Bradford, vice president of membership and economic development at the Massachusetts Bio- technology Council (MassBio). Almost 100 Massachusetts companies are now working on diagnostics or therapies for the coronavirus. "It has shown the value that this industry provides both from a human health perspective, but also from an economic perspective and a workforce perspective," Bradford said. As investors and developers flock to- ward the sector, life sciences isn't going anywhere, said Bradford. Why life sciences? As one of the hottest life sciences locations in the world, Massachusetts has about 20 million square feet of biomanufacturing and lab space in the pipeline to be constructed by 2024, according to an August report from MassBio. e influx in space is the result of a rapidly growing market which com- munities are scrambling to meet. Since the start of the pandemic, the sector has seen record levels of venture capital, federal government, and public funding, said Tucker White, director of research at Boston-based real estate research firm Hunneman. "Whenever one of those fundings is very high, more space follows," White said of the life sciences real estate mar- ket. "Right now, all three of them are at all-time highs." e lifespan and trajectory of bio- tech and biomanufacturing companies have changed over the last five years, said White. A decade ago, most small startups in the industry would be quickly absorbed by large companies. Now, there's a swell in midsize com- panies, which occupy between 20,000 and 50,000 square feet, creating greater demand in the office market. Gina Plata-Nino, attorney at Community Legal Aid PHOTOS/COURTESY OF BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB Bristol Myers Squibb manufactures cell therapies out of its Devens facility. Bristol Myers Squibb is one of four life sciences companies with more than 1,000 employees in Central Mass.

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