Web service helps biotech firms<br> find potential sites in Mass.

With world-class higher education institutions such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, few would argue that the Bay State isn’t a welcoming environment for biotechnology and life science companies.
But a Web service launched this month looks to make Massachusetts even friendlier to existing and upstart firms by helping them navigate the landscape with more ease.
The new www.MassachusettsSiteFinder.com is an online database that companies can use to identify properties to meet their manufacturing or laboratory needs.
The goal, said Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development Executive Director Susan Houston, is to attract companies that are looking to relocate to the Bay State and also help those that are looking to start up or expand in the state.
While the site doesn’t focus solely on biotechnology firms – in fact, there are presently only 85 “bio-ready” properties out of the 1,300 total postings, according to Houston – the database is being touted by Massachusetts officials for narrowing the search for those companies.
Houston said the alliance began laying the groundwork for the database earlier this year by issuing a call for all properties that met certain criteria – such as a certain electrical capacity, zoning and ceiling height. Responses came from all across the state, and the database now includes 4.6 million square feet of available space.
In addition to the ability to search properties based on size, type and features, the biotechnology component of the site also offers users maps that note all nearby resources, including universities, hospitals and connections to highways.
“These are properties that have gone through a filtering process,” Houston said. “It takes out a little bit of the guess work.”
While transactions are not conducted through MassachusettsSiteFinder.com, Houston said that the database aims at being another “entry point” for companies debating whether the state is a good home for their business.
Rhode Island also offers a similar service, through the R.I. Economic Development Corporation’s Web site, at www.riedc.com/riedc/business_services/12/443/.
Andy Cutler, RIEDC spokesman, said the year-old feature allows companies to analyze properties on a macro-level, reviewing parcel specifications as well as maps that show nearby resources and the surrounding zoning landscape.
Like Massachusetts, Rhode Island aims to use the service to attract new companies and allow ones here to see their expansion possibilities, Cutler said.
“We want to be cognizant of the needs that companies already here have … as well as accommodating people that are looking at the state of Rhode Island to expand or relocate to,” he said.
The implementation of the Massachusetts site nearly a year after Rhode Island began offering its own service could be seen as one more sign of competition between the two neighbors. After all, it was just last year that both were short-listed by Bristol-Myers Squibb for a new site – a battle that the Bay State ultimately won.
But Houston said that not only is “there room for everyone” in the biotechnology arena; there’s also an opportunity to build off each state’s resources to better the region.
The Massachusetts site counts Rhode Island institutions, such as Brown University, as assets for companies eyeing southeastern Massachusetts. “There’s an adage in site selection that says if it’s within 50 miles of your property, you can count it as an asset,” Houston said.
Cutler said if a regional approach occurred, to economic development in life sciences, it would best be done through inventorying all available properties, as Rhode Island has.
“The first step for any state in this region is to develop its assets, as we have in Rhode Island, and make them public,” Cutler said.
Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, the need for a real estate database may be growing. A new report by NAI Hunneman Commercial says the vacancy rate for life sciences properties in the Bay State was down to 10.6 percent at the end of the first quarter, a 2.6-percentage-point drop from a year ago. And the total amount of usable office/lab space in Massachusetts only increased slightly, from 17.1 million square feet to 17.5 million square feet.
In Rhode Island, the market is tight as well, said Charles Francis, president of the local office of CB Richard Ellis/New England. While he credited the state having a database looking to attract life sciences companies, Francis said that there isn’t a wide array of available properties in Rhode Island.
Francis said it becomes a question of whether to build the properties first and then see if the companies will come, or to wait for the companies to come and then build. Given the current market conditions and the lack of familiarity of many biotechnology firms with Rhode Island, it’s unlikely that a developer will move forward on a project that doesn’t have a significant lead tenant, he said.
“It’s going to take a big effort on the part of the state, the hospitals and universities – which are the main draw for this type of industry – to address those needs,” Francis said.