Pharma Giant Puts 450K SF on Sublease Market in Cambridge

A pharmaceutical giant — and the top life sciences employer in the state of Massachusetts — is letting go of a big chunk of its space in another blow to the regional life sciences real estate industry.

Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals put nearly 450,000 square feet on the sublease market this month across three properties in Cambridge, CoStar reported. The properties in question include 300 Massachusetts Avenue, 35 Landsdowne Street and 75-125 Binney Street.

At Binney Street in particular, it’s a reverse course for Takeda. Less than two years ago, the company renewed 388,000 square feet in an early renewal with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, postponing the expiration date to at least 2040.

Takeda is freeing up space because it is consolidating its efforts in Cambridge — long a life sciences hub due to the presence of elite universities such as Harvard and MIT — at 385 Kendall Street. BioMed Realty has been developing a 600,000-square-foot campus at the site, which Takeda pre-leased in full in 2022.

Across the state, Takeda leases more than 1.25 million square feet and employs more than 6,000 people. Last month, Takeda started expanding at Innovation Park in Libertyville, adding nearly 80,000 square feet for a total of 105,673 square feet in the former Motorola Mobility campus in the Chicago area.

When the pandemic ravaged much of the commercial real estate market, life sciences emerged as a beacon and the Greater Boston area was one of its brightest stars. But it’s been hit with a significant downturn in recent months as trade wars and funding cuts have bled the market dry.

The vacancy rate for the life sciences market in the region is approaching 30 percent, according to CBRE. A rush to develop spaces at the start of the pandemic that are no longer being filled six years later is not helping matters.

That’s not to say activity has ceased. Last month, Genentech — a Roche subsidiary — expanded its presence at Harvard’s Allston Enterprise Research Campus, tripling its planned space to 100,000 square feet.

— Holden Walter-Warner