CAMBRIDGE OFFICE & LAB MARKET REPORT FOURTH QUARTER 2018
CAMBRIDGE REIGNS SUPREME TO END YEAR Cambridge f inished 2018 maintaining incredibly low off ice and lab vacancy rates with asking rents continuing to move up. Last quar ter, Massachusetts moved up the list to become the second ranked state nationally in venture capital funding, moving ahead of New York, in large par t due to Cambridge s reputation as one of the world s premier technology and innovation markets. With prestigious universities such as Har vard and MIT deeply embedded in Cambridge s fabric, some of the world s most innovative new companies are eager to expand within or relocate to the tech hub. While Kendall Square and East Cambridge have always been the premier submarkets of Cambridge, newly formed Cambridge Crossing produced some signif icant headlines this quar ter. Sanof i Genzyme, a French life sciences company, announced in mid-december that they signed a lease for two buildings to be built that will total around 900,000 square feet. This comes on the heels of the announcement by Philips Nor th America that they will occupy roughly 400,000 square feet in the same neighborhood by the end of 2019. Sanof i s lease is the largest single off ice lease in Boston or Cambridge in several years, more than doubling the size of Verizon s 440,000 square foot lease last quar ter in Nor th Station. 3.4% # 3.7% # $2.9B 6TH NOVEMBER MASSACHUSETTS UNEMPLOYMENT NOVEMBER NATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT MASSACHUSETTS ANNUAL NIH FUNDING LARGEST MSA IN THE COUNTRY
MARKET TRENDS $82.00 OFFICE CLASS A ASKING RATE VS. DIRECT VACANCY 18% $76.00 16% GLOBAL DESTINATION $70.00 $64.00 14% 12% World leader in medical innovation and technology advancement $58.00 10% $52.00 8% TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION HUB Fortune 500 leaders and 1,900 homegrown startups $46.00 $40.00 $34.00 6% 4% 2% LIFE SCIENCE SECTION SURGES Huge demand from National and International companies $28.00 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Average Asking Rate 2013 2014 2015 2016 Direct Vacancy (%) 2017 2018 0% WHERE IS THE RELIEF? Small and medium size users face historic competition OFFICE CLASS B ASKING RATE VS. DIRECT VACANCY MARKET RATES KEEP RISING Demand out-pacing supply, no relief for price sensitive users $64.00 $59.00 $54.00 18% 16% 14% $49.00 12% COWORKING SPACE DISRUPTING MARKET Tenants like flexibility and shorter term commitments $44.00 $39.00 $34.00 $29.00 10% 8% 6% 4% INVESTMENT SALES STILL QUIET Few assets coming to market $24.00 $19.00 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Average Asking Rate 2013 2014 2015 2016 Direct Vacancy (%) 2017 2018 2% 0%
DIRECT VACANCY RATE BY SUBMARKET West - Office Mid - Office West - Lab East - Office Mid - Lab East - Lab 0.0% none 0.5% 1.0% 1.5% 2.0% 2.5% 3.0% 3.5% 4.0%
CAMBRIDGE OFFICE STATS AT A GLANCE VACANCY 1.7% ABSORPTION 67,200 sf SUBLEASE 4.3% AVAILABILITY 8.3% ASKING RATE $74.71/sf CONSTRUCTION 2.8MM sf WEST CAMBRIDGE OFFICE $51.34/SF LAB $61.76/SF NNN MID CAMBRIDGE OFFICE $66.61/SF LAB $79.73/SF NNN EAST CAMBRIDGE OFFICE $86.36/SF LAB $82.86/SF NNN
CLASS A & B OFFICE
In early December, Boston Properties received unanimous approval from the Cambridge Planning Board and Cambridge Redevelopment Authority for an 18-story glass tower in Kendall Square. The building will replace the MIT Coop at 325 Main Street and it is likely that Google will be the anchor tenant. The vote of approval allows Boston Properties to move their planned development from the originally proposed 250 Binney Street location to the new 325 Main Street location, where the tower could be connected to Google s current location at 355 Main Street. In the ladder half of December, Apple signed a letter of intent to lease one full floor of the new office building MIT is building at 314 Main Street, across the street from where Boston Properties will be developing the 18-story tower for Google. Capital One has also agreed to lease three floors at the new building, adding to the impressive tenant list that already includes Boeing subsidiary, Aurora Flight Sciences. MIT is positioning this building as a new front door to the university, where students and the world s leading technology and innovation employers will convene daily. While some groups are looking to develop new space in order to satisfy demand for office, others are taking a different strategy. New England Development recently proposed a plan to convert roughly 140,000 SF on third floor of the CambridgeSide Galleria Mall in East Cambridge from retail to office space. The developers have submitted a project rendering to the Cambridge Planning Board. With the high rents landlords are able to receive in Cambridge, expect to see more owners and developers repurposing underutilized assets throughout 2019 and beyond. The investment sales market was slow, with many owners holding their properties as the market continues to amass value and with the end of year timing. One noteworthy acquisition was Biomed Realty s purchase of 0.82 acres of land in Kendall Square for $50.5 million. It is unsure at this point what Biomed s intentions are for their new development, but there will likely be a performing arts component and the $/FAR will presumably will set record pricing. #1.7% DIRECT VACANCY 1 4.3% SUBLEASE AVAILABILITY $ 8.3% TOTAL AVAILABILITY #67,200 SF 12-MONTH ABSORPTION # $74.71/SF AVERAGE ASKING RATE
CLASS A & B OFFICE NOTABLE RECENT LEASES ADDRESS SUBMARKET TENANT SF Cambridge Crossing East Cambridge Sanofi Genzyme 900,000 314 Main Street East Cambridge Boeing 100,000 314 Main Street East Cambridge Capital One 75,000 (LOI) 250 North Street East Cambridge Goldfinch Bio 59,900 314 Main Street East Cambridge Apple 25,000 (LOI) 55 Cambridge Parkway East Cambridge Roivant 13,200 AVERAGE ASKING RATE BY SUBMARKET AVERAGE DIRECT VACANCY BY SUBMARKET $86.00 20.0% $80.00 18.0% $74.00 16.0% $68.00 14.0% $62.00 12.0% $56.00 10.0% $50.00 8.0% $44.00 6.0% $38.00 4.0% $32.00 2.0% $26.00 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 0.0% 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 West Mid East
OFFICE & LAB DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE 238 MAIN STREET Lab 145 BROADWAY Office & Lab 325 MAIN STREET Office 121 FIRST STREET Office 314 MAIN STREET Office 400/500 CAMBRIDGE DISCOVERY Office & Lab 399 BINNEY Lab 250 NORTH STREET Office & Lab
CLASS A & B LAB
Sanofi Genzyme s 900,000 square foot lease for two new office/lab buildings in East Cambridge is arguably the biggest headline of the year. Sanofi plans on moving around 2,700 employees from several Boston-area locations to the new buildings to be built at Cambridge Crossing. With Sanofi having several large spaces around Boston, including a 275,000 square foot space in Kendall Square, this consolidation will free up larger chunks of space; expect these spaces get scooped up quickly at premium rates. Adding to the buzz at Cambridge Crossing, Goldfinch Bio recently signed a lease at for just under 60,000 square feet at 250 North Street. Goldfinch Bio is a biotech company focused on discovering and developing therapies for kidney disease, which was launched in 2016 with a $55 million Series A from Third Rock Ventures; adding to the list of venture capital backed companies centered in Cambridge. Despite Cambridge having yet another strong quarter, there was actually a slight increase in the market s vacancy rate since last quarter. A significant contributing factor to the increased vacancy rate is the 144,000 square feet of space that is currently available at 35 Cambridgepark Drive, also known as The Arc. Redeveloped in 2018, The Arc has become highly sought after lab space in West Cambridge. Rumors suggest that there are a number of proposals out for the available space, so it is likely that during the first quarter of next year the market vacancy rate will drop back down to just over one percent when this space is leased. With the demand for lab space in Cambridge so strong and the significant capital required to build out wet labs, SmartLabs is looking to capitalize on the opportunity by bringing the coworking trend to the lab market. The newly formed company, whose relationship to Mass Innovation Labs remains unclear, has the mission to provide upcoming life sciences startups access to laboratories with all the equipment they may need, but likely cannot afford prior to investment. Smartlabs is able to offer these companies one to three year commitments at one of their three locations Kendall Square, Boston Seaport, or Boston Landing where they can occupy anywhere from a single bench up to 30,000 square feet of lab. # 0.2% DIRECT VACANCY $ 0.2% SUBLEASE AVAILABILITY $ 0.3% TOTAL AVAILABILITY $ (118,200) SF 12-MONTH ABSORPTION # $80.97/SF AVERAGE ASKING RATE
CLASS A & B LAB NOTABLE RECENT LEASES ADDRESS SUBMARKET TENANT SF 250 North Street East Cambridge Goldfinch Bio 59,900 301 Binney Street East Cambridge Generation Bio 52,250 Alewife Research Ctr West Cambridge Eisai 48,000 45 Sidney Street Mid Cambridge Blueprint Medicines 40,000 Alewife Research Ctr West Cambridge Ribon Therapeutics 26,900 Fresh Pond Research West Cambridge Life Biosciences 25,000 399 Binney Street East Cambridge Rubius Therapeutics 20,000 AVERAGE ASKING RATE BY SUBMARKET AVERAGE DIRECT VACANCY BY SUBMARKET $85.00 20.0% $79.00 18.0% $73.00 16.0% $67.00 14.0% $61.00 12.0% $55.00 10.0% $49.00 8.0% $43.00 6.0% $37.00 4.0% $31.00 2.0% $25.00 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 0.0% 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 West Mid East
BEHIND THE SCENES WHATS DRIVING DEMAND? MA Funding (2018) $2.9 BILLION TECHNOLOGY INCUBATORS VC INVESTMENT BEING CONCENTRATED INTO FEWER DEALS, BUT TOTAL INVESTMENT GROWING START-UP, TECHNOLOGY & LIFE SCIENCE COMPANIES 15% OF CAMBRIDGE'S TOP 25 EMPLOYERS ARE LIFE SCIENCE OR TECH COMPANIES LIFE SCIENCE & VC HUB CAMBRIDGE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE 180 BASIS POINTS LOWER THAN NATIONAL AVERAGE $83,100 MEDIAN HH INCOME HIGHER THAN 17 % STATEWIDE OFFICE RENTS 55 % IN THE PAST 5 YEARS BOSTON IS THE #2 TOP NATIONAL STARTUP HUB
OFFICE & LAB REPORT STATS
Office TOTAL A & B Total Inventory (SF) Direct Vacancy Sublease Availability Total Availability Quarterly Absorption (SF) 12 Month Absorption (SF) Average Asking Rate Cambridge 11,117,150 1.7% 4.3% 8.3% (26,550) 67,200 $74.71 East Cambridge 6,051,350 0.9% 3.4% 6.9% (21,750) 76,100 $86.36 Mid Cambridge 3,135,750 2.0% 2.5% 5.9% (19,750) (28,800) $66.61 West Cambridge 1,930,150 3.7% 9.7% 16.4% 14,900 19,900 $51.34 CLASS A Cambridge 7,360,450 1.5% 5.7% 8.0% (11,500) 75,700 $80.41 East Cambridge 5,032,500 1.1% 4.0% 5.1% (26,7350 32,850 $88.20 Mid Cambridge 1,224,550 1.0% 5.1% 6.1% - 11,600 $71.08 West Cambridge 1,103,450 4.0% 14.0% 23.2% 15,150 31,200 $55.25 CLASS B Cambridge 3,756,750 2.1% 1.5% 8.9% (14,950) (8,500) $63.53 East Cambridge 1,018,850 0.3% 0.5% 15.8% 5,000 43,250 $77.25 Mid Cambridge 1,911,200 2.6% 0.9% 5.8% (19,750) (40,450) $63.75 West Cambridge 826,600 3.2% 4.1% 7.4% (250) (11,300) $46.13 Lab TOTAL A & B Total Inventory (SF) Direct Vacancy Sublease Availability Total Availability Quarterly Absorption (SF) 12 Month Absorption (SF) Average Asking Rate Cambridge 14,662,550 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% (153,100) (118,200) $80.97 East Cambridge 9,660,700 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 1,250 18,750 $82.86 Mid Cambridge 4,336,800 0.5% 0.2% 0.7% (14,200) 3,250 $79.73 West Cambridge 665,050 0.8% 0.0% 0.8% (140,200) (140,200) $61.76 CLASS A Cambridge 12,174,450 0.0% 0.1% 0.2% 1,250 8,750 $82.89 East Cambridge 9,005,750 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% 1,250 14,750 $83.50 Mid Cambridge 3,039,550 0.2% 0.0% 0.2% - (5,950) $81.75 West Cambridge 129,150 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% - - $67.50 CLASS B Cambridge 2,488,150 0.8% 0.4% 1.2% (14,150) 13,250 $71.59 East Cambridge 654,950 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% - 4,000 $74.02 Mid Cambridge 1,297,250 1.1% 0.8% 1.9% (14,150) 9,250 $75.01 West Cambridge 535,900 0.9% 0.0% 0.9% - - $60.38
ETHAN ROBERT Director of Research 617.951.4160 erobert@lpc.com CONNOR MALONEY Analyst 617.951.4141 comaloney@lpc.com Lincoln Property Company 53 State Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 617.951.4100 LPCBoston.com Lincoln Property Company s Boston Office Report is produced by the Boston Office s research team in collaboration with our Cambridge Brokerage Group. If you have any questions regarding market conditions and the information found in this report, please contact Ethan Robert.