The New Office/Lab Thread

Biotech/Labs in Manhattan would be weird.
 
Facebook to add space at 50 Binney.
Facebook appears poised to roughly triple the size of its offices in Cambridge, making the technology giant the latest to place a big bet on Kendall Square real estate, despite predictions that such businesses would require less space coming out of the pandemic.

The company has a deal with bluebird bio to sublease 270,000 square feet that the Cambridge biotech occupies at 50 Binney St., according to four Boston real estate industry executives.
...
Bluebird, a gene therapy firm in the same cluster of Binney Street buildings, had subleased the space two years ago from the drug maker Sanofi Genzyme, but put it back on the market for a sublease last summer. Bluebird, which hasn’t moved into the new space, said in January that it will split into two companies. It’s been a rocky year so far for the company, which last week said it would resume European marketing of a gene therapy for a genetic blood disorder.
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https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07...5615983&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter
 
Maybe Facebook is getting into the life sciences biz? :unsure:
 
jklo said:
Maybe Facebook is getting into the life sciences biz? :unsure:
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How else are they going to inject us all with nanobots under the guise of "COVID-19 booster shots?" Zuck doesn't want Bill Gates to have a monopoly on the microscopic Trojan Horse game.
 
Lrfox said:
How else are they going to inject us all with nanobots under the guise of "COVID-19 booster shots?" Zuck doesn't want Bill Gates to have a monopoly on the microscopic Trojan Horse game.
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Whose chip is in the Moderna vaccine, do you think? Dolly Parton’s?

Edit: actually, was Gates’ in both or just Pfizer’s. I was always a little confused by the theory.
 
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The photo of the "new" Facebook building includes the corner of the current building in the far right, so it looks like they're not very far apart.
 
jklo said:
www.bisnow.com

Tech Firm Signs 131K SF Lease At Massive Spec Waltham Project

Cambridge-based tech firm Pegasystems has inked a 130K SF lease at Hobbs Brook Real Estate's rising 225 Wyman speculative development in Waltham.
www.bisnow.com www.bisnow.com

Pega Systems is leaving Kendall Square for Waltham. Former digs probably be turned into lab space. Landlord paid Pega $18M to leave.
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Your summary alone is much better information than the Globe article that I refused to read until you posted this here, which has undertones of death-of-the-city-finally! riddled throughout it. Nowhere in their story do they mention the $18 million payment.
 
stefal said:
Your summary alone is much better information than the Globe article that I refused to read until you posted this here, which has undertones of death-of-the-city-finally! riddled throughout it. Nowhere in their story do they mention the $18 million payment.
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Alexandria paid $815million to buy the entire Charles Park office development that housed Pega, as I posted here:

Charles Park Office Redevelopment | 122 - 150 First Street | Cambridge

It seems this probably warrants its own thread (mods, otherwise feel free to move to East Cambridge Small Projects). Apparently, Alexandria just acquired the Charles Park office complex in East Cambridge for $815million and plans to do an office-to-lab conversion. Reported by BBJ and BldUp...
archboston.com

I reckon this had much more to do with Alexandria's ongoing mega lab takeover of greater Kendall than it had to do with Pega aching to leave. They have already stated they plan to do a lab conversion of the property.
 
It is a little strange that they decided to go all the way to Waltham rather than find some other space in Kendall.
 
jklo said:
It is a little strange that they decided to go all the way to Waltham rather than find some other space in Kendall.
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They did find another space in Kendall: the Globe article states they will also move into a smaller new space on Main St. in Kendall which will continue to be designated as their official headquarters (it does not mention the square footage or address); meanwhile, they will open the new Waltham location and maintain a Salem, NH location. The article also states they are growing and have added 275 new employees during the pandemic.

That article is seriously one of the most egregious examples of unbalanced "all business is fleeing to the suburbs!" journalism I've seen in the Globe so far. First off, they left off the fact that Pega was paid $18m by Alexandria to vacate; next, the headline states "dumps Kendall square office for new development in Waltham" when in reality the company is opening a new Kendall office in conjunction with the Waltham move; finally, they choose not to frame the added square footage in Waltham in the context of headcount growth in parallel. Moreover, how feasible would it even have been for them to grab 130,000 sq.ft. in Kendall at/near the rate they were paying on short order (the Alexandria grab took place over just 6 months, right after the same property had already changed hands to Davis Cos; prior, I doubt Pega was expecting to be paid to leave)? Talk about fitting a story to a narrative.
 
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This how the Globe stories work. They pick a narrative and only use facts and angles that support it and exclude anything that doesn’t.
 
bigpicture7 said:
That article is seriously one of the most egregious examples of unbalanced "all business is fleeing to the suburbs!" journalism I've seen in the Globe so far. First off, they left off the fact that Pega was paid $18m by Alexandria to vacate; next, the headline states "dumps Kendall square office for new development in Waltham" when in reality the company is opening a new Kendall office in conjunction with the Waltham move; finally, they choose not to frame the added square footage in Waltham in the context of headcount growth in parallel. Moreover, how feasible would it even have been for them to grab 130,000 sq.ft. in Kendall at/near the rate they were paying on short order (the Alexandria grab took place over just 6 months, right after the same property had already changed hands to Davis Cos; prior, I doubt Pega was expecting to be paid to leave)? Talk about fitting a story to a narrative.
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The Cambridge office is likely to be smallish. A rando website I found claims it's only 30-40 ksqft. I'm not sure I believe the website but it does sort of set the expectation that Pega is expecting the employees to drive to Waltham.

$46/sqft for Waltham does seem pricey to me in the current environment.
 
jklo said:
The Cambridge office is likely to be smallish. A rando website I found claims it's only 30-40 ksqft. I'm not sure I believe the website but it does sort of set the expectation that Pega is expecting the employees to drive to Waltham.

$46/sqft for Waltham does seem pricey to me in the current environment.
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I agree it seems they're expecting employees (when not remote working) to go to Waltham (and I too find it curious). All I am saying is that getting paid to vacate a lease and then deciding to continue maintaining a Kendall HQ is really not a match for the headline/type of language in the Globe article.
 
bigpicture7 said:
I agree it seems they're expecting employees (when not remote working) to go to Waltham (and I too find it curious). All I am saying is that getting paid to vacate a lease and then deciding to continue maintaining a Kendall HQ is really not a match for the headline/type of language in the Globe article.
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I'm imagining like the Head of Sales insisted they keep a presence in Kendall.

The MBTA does service Wyman St - the 61 bus goes straight there from the Waltham CR stop.
 
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