Winstanley Enterprises' 500,000-square-foot New Haven lab tower at 101 College St. Image courtesy of Elkus Manfredi Architects
A new report from commercial real estate brokerage CBRE put New Haven in the top 20 markets for life science talent nationwide.
The metro area, whose biotech industry and life science real estate sector has grown in tandem dramatically in recent years, ranked as the 20th of the nation’s top 25 life science clusters based on how much of a region’s workforce had the relevant degrees and job experience to work at a biotech.
New Haven beat out much larger academic and science industry hubs like Pittsburgh and put it in striking distance of large tech hubs like Austin, Texas. And while it scored among the lowest of the markets surveyed for the number of researchers working in the area, it was among the top seven for the share of biological and biomedical graduates who receive PhDs and the share of its population who hold PhDs, on par with life sciences powerhouse San Diego, California.
When it comes to the cost of living – a key point of competition for the talent of all stripes – New Haven was squarely in the middle when CBRE compared the average biochemist’s annual salary to the cost of living. Nearby competitors like Boston and the New York City area scored poorly on this metric.
CBRE also singled out New Haven, along with Albany, New York and Worcester, Massachusetts, as the Northeast’s only emerging and “possibly untapped” hubs for life sciences research talent. New Haven, in particular, was praised for its “highly educated population and strong densities in various life sciences research occupations.”
The region drew over $200 million in venture capital funding and nearly $600 million in National Institutes of Health funding in 2021, CBRE said.
Recent years have seen a small group of developers build out new lab space in New Haven or convert existing office properties for biotech uses. The largest project resulting from this boomlet, Winstanley Enterprises’ 500,000-square-foot 101 College St. tower, is under construction and already received commitments for all but 50,000 square feet of space from Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Yale University, Arvinas Inc. and BioLabs. The growing industry has also attracted residential real estate developers, who are adding or proposing over 1,000 new units in the city’s core neighborhoods.
