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MassDevelopment In The News
Beyond Kendall: Biotech 'Corridors' Grow in Massachusetts
February 23, 2007: Boston Business Journal, by Denise Magnell
For Kevin O’Sullivan, the move of biotechnology companies into the suburban areas doesn’t dilute the strength of the Boston/Cambridge biotech hub.
He sees those suburban biotechs as strengthening Massachusetts’ life sciences clout against everybody else.
"Its not about Worcester competing against Boston, it’s about Massachusetts competing on a national level," said O’Sullivan, president of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, which manages three incubator facilities in Worcester. "There’s a burgeoning biomedical corridor from Boston and Cambridge to Worcester and everything in between. Kendall Square in Cambridge is the 'jewel in the crown', but not everyone has to be in Kendall Square."
Worcester, with a million square feet devoted to biotech research and production at the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park, is a cluster unto itself. But most suburban biotech clusters comprise several communities along major highways that lead back to the life science resources of Greater Boston and Cambridge. That accessibility is what drives an outlying area’s ability to develop a biotech community and causes development officials to talk about the "corridors" where companies have sprung up in clusters statewide. Experts say the cost of leasing or buying suburban property often is about 30 percent less than in Boston and Cambridge, a fact that has helped the state compete for life sciences more effectively as a whole.
Major clusters include those near the Interstate 95/Route 128 corridor at Route 2, where dozens of biotech firms populate nearby Lexington, Woburn, Waltham and Watertown. The Interstate 93 "tech" corridor stretches north of Boston into the Merrimack Valley, where Andover houses a major plant for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth.
Biotech development in Metrowest communities from Framingham westward has sprouted near the Massachusetts Turnpike and Interstate 495. And in Fall River, near interstate 195, the South Coast Research and Technology Park sits on a reclaimed mill site. It is anchored by facilities of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc., which received a $900,000 loan from MassDevelopment.
"Most CEOs’ questions about where to locate revolve around accessibility for existing employees and the need for a talent pool to tap into that’s not far from Boston," said James Kenney, a vice president at MassDevelopment who administers the state agency’s Emerging Technology Fund.
The old Fort Devens U.S. Army base is poised to generate the latest mini-cluster of life sciences development. In a coup for the state’s biotech industry, pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. will locate a facility in Devens, a planned residential-business community 35 miles west of Boston on the site of the old Army base. With support from MassDevelopment, the $660 million project is expected to break ground this spring and eventually employ 550 workers at the plant.
Beyond land price, a company’s stage of growth can also determine the need to look beyond Boston/Cambridge. "As they progress from laboratories to manufacturing space, they will look for lower cost areas in the northeast and southeast parts of the states. We’re hoping these areas will gain more of the biotech industry," said Peter Abair, director of economic development for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.
The council is compiling a list of sites throughout the state that are "bio-ready" to display at the Biotechnology Industry Organization International Convention to be held this May in Boston.
Life sciences companies may cluster together, he said, with an eye to which companies are located in places they are scouting.
"I think during the due diligence process they may be checking to see who else is in the neighborhood. If they see similar companies there already, it speaks to the availability of the work force," Abair said.
Kevin Hrusovsky, president and CEO of Caliper Life Sciences Inc. in Hopkinton, said "proximity never hurts" when companies from the same industry move into a locale.
"There are several biotechs in Hopkinton within 10 miles of each other, so our employee base is larger. The living conditions and schools here attract a lot of talent," he said. "We have a motivated chamber of commerce, and firms that are looking for building space and growth will look out here. I feel this is still an untapped area."
Acusphere Inc. in Watertown chose to locate a manufacturing plant in Tewksbury over possible sites outside the state.
A $2 million loan from MassDevelopment enabled the company to renovate a leased facility to manufacture its new cardiovascular drug, Imagnify.
"We were looking both in and out of Massachusetts, and when we got some financial assistance, it was enough to convince us to stay here," said Acusphere spokesman Stephen Schultz, noting the potential of the Lowell area for biotechnology companies. "The workforce includes both blue-collar manufacturing workers and white-collar managers, and there are factories there that can be refurbished for biotech companies. I see that as a future hub."
Robert Coughlin, newly named undersecretary for the Massachusetts Department of Business and Technology, said projects such as Westwood station, a mixed-use project to replace old industrial and warehouse space in the town of Westwood, could easily draw small biotech firms. "I’m sure we’ll see some life sciences companies move there," he said.
© Copyright 2007 Boston Business Journal.
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