Photo by Sylvester Zawadzki
The rise of New Haven’s biotech industry has prompted steady demand for new lab space in the backyard of Yale School of Medicine, pointing toward an economic growth opportunity creating thousands of high-paying jobs.
One developer is pitching a proposed $100 million office-lab tower at 101 College St. Another is converting a former corporate office headquarters into lab-ready space as part of an ongoing master-planned redevelopment of the former Winchester Firearms factory.
New York-based Twining Properties and brokerage JLL are marketing 90,000 square feet of office-lab space at 115 Munson St., part of the Winchester Works complex. The building, completed by Massachusetts developer Winstanley Enterprises in 2012 as a corporate headquarters for since-departed financial services firm Higher One, was acquired by a joint venture of Twining Properties, L+M Development Partners and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group in 2019.
‘Clearly a Need’
Currently the building is 30 percent leased to two office tenants Bank Mobile and Transact. But its heavy floor loads, robust power capacity and risers for lab equipment make it suitable for lab space, developers say, at a time when New Haven lab vacancies are scarce.
“There’s clearly a need for these companies coming out of an incubator and nearing their series A or B (venture capital) funding to roll into existing lab space so they can get up and running,” CEO Alex Twining said.
Developers are marketing spaces as small as 5,000 square feet for early stage companies, and have had discussions with a mix of local and out-of-state startups, said Christopher Ostop, managing director of brokerage for JLL. Asking rents are in the low $40s per square foot range on a triple-net basis, Ostop said.
“These lab tenants as they grow are forced to go to the suburbs, such as Branford and Madison, but they prefer the ecosystem that Yale has created here,” he said.
The 700,000-square-foot complex is overseen by Science Park Development Corp., a quasi-public agency, and includes a 158-unit loft apartment conversion completed in 2015 by an Ohio developer. Twining Properties has development rights for four future building sites with approvals ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 square feet, including office, lab and multifamily housing.
Developer Eyes Growth Near Alexion
New Haven’s life science cluster got a high-profile boost in 2016 when Alexion Pharmaceuticals relocated its headquarters from a Cheshire office park to a 513,000-square-foot build-to-suit office-lab building at 100 College St.
Although the rare disease researcher moved its headquarters to Boston in 2018, it retained approximately 450 employees in New Haven and continued to occupy approximately half the building. Yale University leased the remaining availability in January from developers Winstanley Enterprises and Ventas Inc.
Alexion, for its part, announced in September a $10 million expansion of its existing product development lab at 100 College St. which is scheduled for completion in late 2020.
Concord, Massachusetts-based Winstanley Enterprises now is testing the demand for additional life science space in a proposed development at 101 College St.
Winstanley is seeking to build 350,000 to 550,000 square feet of office and lab space that could create up to 1,000 permanent jobs, according to a proposed development and land disposition agreement submitted to the New Haven Board of Alders in April. The site includes air rights over tunnels and driveways connecting to neighboring parcels.
City, State to Pitch In
To entice Winstanley’s investment, the city would contribute up to $12 million for on-site improvements, and up to $1.5 million for improvements to the nearby Temple Street garage unless an outside funding source materializes, according to a letter submitted to the Board of Alders by Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli. The state Department of Economic and Community Development has tentatively agreed to offset the city’s costs with an $8 million grant, according to an April 1 letter from Commissioner David Lehman.
The proposal also requires a rezoning that would permit more density in exchange for outdoor space improvements.
The construction would advance phase two of the city’s Downtown Crossing project, which has sought to encourage air rights development above a portion of the Route 34 connector including new surface streets.
Principal Adam Winstanley did not respond to a request for an interview, but public documents indicate the firm would be responsible for constructing improvements partially paid for by the city, including an outdoor plaza. Winstanley has offered a one-time payment up to $500,000 to the city, agreed to incorporate a classroom for use by New Haven Public Schools and to partner with New Haven Works on service industry jobs at the property.
