Two Boston-area biotech firms have grabbed entire floors at GENESIS 21 Hickory in Waltham, locking in roughly 48,000 square feet of lab space along Route 128. Dash Bio and Bonito Bio are relocating their laboratory operations into the converted life-science building, each taking a full floor. The deals, announced Wednesday, amount to another vote of confidence in turnkey suburban lab space.
CBRE completed the transactions on behalf of building ownership, Phase 3 Real Estate Partners and Bain Capital Real Estate, and was represented by brokers Eric Smith, Alex Plaisted and Perry Beal, according to Connect CRE. Banker & Tradesman confirmed the moves and put the combined leased area at about 48,127 square feet at the 121,000-square-foot property.
Dash Bio said in a company release that it has moved into a roughly 24,000-square-foot, GLP-compliant lab at 21 Hickory Drive to expand automated bioanalysis capacity. In the press release, CEO Dave Johnson said, “This facility gives us the capacity to serve more biotech companies who are tired of waiting months for data that should take days,” according to PR Newswire.
The property is part of Phase 3’s GENESIS conversion program and offers about 120,000 rentable square feet with floor plates in the low-to-mid 20,000s, according to Phase 3 Real Estate Partners. The building's leasing page with CBRE lists a standard floor at roughly 24,057 square feet, which helps explain why both tenants opted for full floors as they scale up laboratory operations.
What it means for Route 128 demand
The moves land as Waltham and the broader Route 128 corridor show early signs of renewed leasing momentum after a spell of excess lab supply. The Boston Globe recently highlighted Stoke Therapeutics’ larger relocation to Waltham as part of that turnaround story.
Lease filings and prior deals, including a public lease filing for Sionna Therapeutics at 21 Hickory, indicate that landlords are leaning into conversions and plug-and-play offerings to win tenants that need move-in-ready floors quickly, according to documents posted on Justia.
“Both biotech firms wanted to elevate their image,” CBRE broker Eric Smith said, noting the tenants were looking for growth potential, per Connect CRE. For Waltham, two new full-floor lab commitments add operational density to the GENESIS campus and could help draw more service providers, hires and ancillary deals as companies move from development to larger-scale operations.
