While major metropolitan areas are facing a concerning glut of laboratory space, Rhode Island leaders are more optimistic about the Ocean State’s future in the industry.
Indeed, vacancies across the country reached 14.8% in the first quarter of 2024, a 1.7% rise from the previous quarter and above the 8% average reported from 2016 to 2020, according to CBRE Inc. data.
Even Boston’s and Cambridge, Mass.’s renowned life science industry is feeling the pressure of rising vacancies. Lab space in the Boston area hit decade-highs at the end of 2023 and they have remained steady throughout 2024, according to reports by the real estate firm Colliers.
Rhode Island hasn’t felt the pressure from these rising vacancies simply because the state doesn’t have commercial lab space.
Now the state is in the early stages of developing its own commercial lab space as the R.I. Life Science Hub is getting up and running.
“Part of building the sector is building space,” said Neil D. Steinberg, hub chairman.
The deadline for responses to the hub’s request for proposals for a developer to construct a shared wet and dry lab and incubator space was due in May. Steinberg declined to provide further information on the responses and what potential locations had been identified, saying they are confidential at this point but more details are expected to come in the next few weeks.
The RFP says the lab space should be located in an unoccupied space within an existing building, ideally in the I-195 Innovation & Design District in Providence. Steinberg did say construction is expected to take 12 to 15 months and the site would be filled in three to four years after that.
Steinberg says there’s been some interest from companies looking to come to Rhode Island.
A Smithfield biomanufacturing facility that used to house Rubius Therapeutics Inc., a once-promising biotechnology startup, is still vacant more than a year after the company shut down. But the building owners, Boston-based real estate firm The Davis Cos., are unconcerned and have said the 122,507-square-foot building has attracted “strong interest” for the property.
This is because of its “extensive in-place infrastructure, which allows future tenants to achieve greater speed to market, and its location, within reach of a highly educated talent pool,” Jon Needham, senior vice president of asset management for science and technology at The Davis Cos., previously said in a statement to Providence Business News.
While the building has lab infrastructure in place, Davis is fielding inquiries from prospective tenants in the biomanufacturing, flex research and development industries. Steinberg says the hub does not have any updates on its plans for the building, as Davis is dealing directly with interested companies.
Also in the works is a new biomedical science building at the University of Rhode Island’s South Kingstown campus. With the support of leaders such as Gov. Daniel J. McKee and House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, it’s expected that Rhode Island voters will be asked in November to approve an $87.5 million bond issue to finance the construction.
A spokesperson for URI did not immediately respond to PBN’s questions about the project plans.
Much of the state’s lab space has been located in hospitals or Brown University.
Brown spokesperson Brian Clark said the university uses Brown-owned lab spaces most of the time, aside from two exceptions.
One is in the 212,000-square-foot, seven-story building under construction in the Jewelry District that is set to house a new public health lab for the state, as well as academic and commercial life science companies. Brown signed a letter with the developer, Ancora L&G LLC, to lease 20,000 square feet of the space for 10 years. The R.I. Department of Health will serve as the anchor tenant occupying 80,000 square feet. The rest of the space will be set aside for private lab facilities.
The second is Brown leasing 31,000 square feet of lab space at the Wexford Science & Technology building, also known as Point 225, also in Providence. Brown is leasing space on the sixth floor of the seven-story building. The lab space opened in March. The seventh floor remains vacant. A representative for Wexford did not respond to PBN’s questions about the vacant space.
In both of these cases, Clark says the decisions fit the university’s strategy of adding “vibrancy to the Jewelry District with a particular focus on scientific and biomedical research” and possibly promoting economic growth in the city and state.
This is exactly what state leaders hope to accomplish with future lab space.
“We look forward to having more designated lab facilities because they are critical to keep our graduates in Rhode Island, attracting outside talent, and establishing and growing businesses of all sizes,” Matthew Touchette, a spokesperson for R.I. Commerce Corp., said in a statement.
Beyond Rhode Island, Steinberg says there are also opportunities to collaborate with Massachusetts as the industry is expected to continue to grow. He said the two states don’t necessarily need to compete for lab space, but there is an opportunity for collaboration and cooperation on real estate and the workforce.
