Image courtesy of Ryan Cos. US
A quartet of firms say they have partnered up and plan to propose one of the biggest biotech developments the New Haven area will have ever seen.
Connecticut-based Henrich Partners and Minnesota-based construction firm Ryan Cos. US announced they had partnered with Belfonti Cos. and A. Secondino & Son Inc. to turn a 120-acre wooded area on the Branford-Guilford town line into a 500,000-square-foot office-lab complex. Belfonti and A. Secondino already own the land and had engaged Cushman & Wakefield to market the property to biotech developers in 2021.
The properties at 779-803 East Main St. and 21 Sycamore Way are zoned for industrial uses, but Branford Planning Department staff confirmed that no land-use applications have yet been filed with the town, so the extent of regulatory approvals needed for the large project are still unknown. Ryan Cos. did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
“What we’re looking to develop on this site is extremely unique. There is a significant focus on embracing the natural elements of the property—preserving the trees, streams, views—to create a place where businesses can thrive within islands of nature,” Connor Lewis, vice president of real estate development at Ryan Cos. US, said in a statement released with the announcement. “HealthTech Park will shine as a beacon for the Town of Branford and Connecticut, as well as across the country as a leading example of a healthcare and life sciences-centric development.”
Ryan Cos. said in its announcement that it will be the project’s contractor manager and its in-house architecture and engineering division will design the project. No other details about the project’s ownership structure were immediately available.
A rendering released with the announcement shows two large office-lab buildings surrounded by parking lots and trails and a bridge across a creek running through the property. The rendering shows vehicular access arranged via one of the roads in Branford’s existing industrial park, just off Exit 56 on Interstate 95. The industrial park’s 20,000-square-foot to 60,000-square-foot flex-industrial properties has attracted numerous growth-stage life science tenants that had outgrown what was, until recently, New Haven’s extremely limited inventory of available lab space.
If approved, the development will be on par with Winstanley Enterprises’ under-construction, 500,000-square-foot 101 College St. life sciences tower in downtown New Haven. City officials have also approved a 200,000-square-foot lab tower from developer Ancora at the nearby Square 10 development, expected to deliver in early 2025.
While rising interest rates and economic uncertainty have sharply curtailed the many biotech companies’ growth plans in hubs across the country over the last year, a mid-2022 report from CBRE named New Haven as one of the nation’s top 20 markets for biotech talent, and suggested this would continue to provide a solid footing for the market’s growth.
