At the September 2020 luncheon, Kerry Hawkins, Senior Director, Capital Markets at JLL Boston, and CREW Boston’s President Elect, hosted a panel discussion about the Massachusetts Life Sciences market. The panelists, Doug Cuff, Vice President, IQHQ, McKenna Teague, Vice President, CBRE, and Audrey Symes, Director of Research – Healthcare, Life Sciences, and Advisory, JLL, provided a bullish outlook for a segment of the commercial real estate market that has been relatively pandemic / recession-proof.
As Audrey explained, “2020 has shown the critical importance of the life sciences profession to our economy. If you do want to invest in CRE in the next 18 months, it’s hard for me to imagine a better subcategory.”
Nor is Cambridge the only place in town where life science companies want to work. Clusters are also developing in Watertown, Alewife, and the Seaport. The cluster effect – multiple companies locating in the same area – is key to life science growth and innovation.
Projects are also looking for space outside of the core. IQHQ is redeveloping Innovation Park, a 200,000 square foot campus in Andover, where companies will be able to draw on a labor pool from both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
