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10 Central MA Life Sciences Report and regulatory approval before products make it to market. King Street is developing a five- building, 750,000-square-foot biomanufacturing campus in Devens, called Pathway Devens, on the heels of completing a 165,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for energy company Commonwealth Fusion Systems in Devens. Devens is a regional enterprise zone stretching through Ayer, Shirley, and Harvard west of I-495 on Route 2, a highway spanning northern Massachusetts from Cambridge through Fitchburg and out to Pittsfield. Devens is the site of a former military installation, Fort Devens, and has been the site of significant redevelopment. The state agency MassDevelopment has streamlined the process for development, and Reynoso said developers can get a project permitted within 75 days, a process that can take years in Boston or Cambridge. Developments, high and low Though construction costs remain high, and the economy, including the life sciences sector, is still finding out how the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank will affect everything, Central Massachusetts seems to be preparing for continued growth of the industry. Samuels & Associates of Boston and California property owner Alexandria Real Estate Equities are planning a 750,000-square-foot biomanufacturing campus in Westborough. The property included the former headquarters of retailer BJ's Wholesale Club. In Worcester, WBDC in November took control of approximately 51 acres of underused land from manufacturer Saint Gobain for redevelopment. The space is not exclusively earmarked for biomanufacturing, but that is one possible use for the land. In June, Greater Worcester was ranked as being the 15th best region nationally for life sciences research talent, beating out metro areas like Dallas, Sacramento, and New Haven, according to the ranking by real estate giant CBRE. In North Worcester County, Clinton-based Cunningham Equities is working on Turning Point Campus, a 235,000-square-foot life-science manufacturing facility in Fitchburg. In total, the campus will offer 250,000 square feet of manufacturing space, a separate 5,000-square-foot research lab, and a 20,000-square-foot warehouse. The project has an unidentified anchor tenant to occupy 85,000 square feet, and Cunningham Equities is in negotiations with another potential life-science tenant, said James Cunningham, the firm's managing director. Cunningham sees potential for life science companies to adapt the mill buildings in Northern Worcester County, particularly along the Nashua River, for biomanufacturing, he said. Fitchburg State University is producing lab technicians who are forced to move away from the area to be closer to other life sciences clusters, when they would prefer to remain in the area. About an hour down Route 2 from Cambridge, Cunningham said developing a cluster in North Central will not be quick, but he is counting on it happening. "The life-science crawl to the west is happening," he said. James Cunningham, managing director of Cunningham Equities Lab space in Mass. Price of Mass. lab space 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 2011 2021 2022 Currently under construction 14.86 million 55.9 million 40 million 18.4 million Total life sciences lab space (in square feet) Source on both charts: Massachusetts Biotechnology Council County / Price per sq. ft. Worcester $31-$45 Essex $35-$61 Norfolk $49-$52 Middlesex $94-$97 Suffolk $107-$110 Continued from page 8 LS