Genentech Bulks Up at Harvard’s Allston Campus

Genentech is significantly growing its bet on Harvard University’s Allston research district, tripling its planned footprint at the Enterprise Research Campus in a move that cuts against the grain of Boston’s struggling life sciences market.

The Roche-owned biotech firm will expand from 30,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet at One Milestone Street, a life sciences complex under development by Tishman Speyer and Breakthrough Properties, according to Bisnow. The company expects to begin occupying the space in phases starting in the middle of this year.

Genentech revealed last year that it would establish an innovation center at the campus, marking its first presence at the Harvard-led development. The expanded lease positions the company as a key tenant in the project’s first phase and provides a boost to a development delivering into a difficult leasing environment.

The Allston facility will house research focused on cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. When Genentech first announced the move in March, it said the site could ultimately support up to 500 employees, signaling long-term growth ambitions even as the company has pared back headcount elsewhere.

One Milestone Street consists of two connected lab buildings totaling roughly 510,000 square feet, split between a 265,000-square-foot east building and a 245,000-square-foot west building. Construction is nearing completion.

The project is part of a broader 900,000-square-foot first phase at the Enterprise Research Campus, which will also include a residential building with 343 apartments and a hotel.

Harvard tapped Tishman Speyer as master developer for the Allston project in 2019, betting on a mixed-use, transit-oriented district that could compete with Kendall Square and the Longwood Medical Area for tenants. That vision has been tested by the post-pandemic slowdown in life sciences demand.

By the end of last year, vacancy in Boston’s urban lab market had climbed to nearly 55 percent, according to Cushman & Wakefield, as supply continued to outpace leasing. The life sciences real estate sector, which boomed post-pandemic, is experiencing a significant downturn across the country due to a funding drought, oversupply and vanishing demand.

— Holden Walter-Warner