Boston University and Spaulding ‘ Slye Colliers will break ground around April 1 on a new 176,000 square-foot Boston University Medical Campus laboratory facility that will be part of the BioSquare project, according to BUMC officals.
The lab will be the 2 million square-foot development’s third research building, according to a BUMC press release.
Multiple simultaneous construction projects left BU without the resources to start the project immediately on its own, according to BU Senior Vice President Richard Towle. Instead of waiting a few years, they hired Spaulding ‘ Slye to manage, construct and lease the building, he said.
After deciding to ferret out the opportunity, BUMC emailed three firms in the area, Towle said. Spaulding ‘ Slye Colliers responded to the request and BU granted them permission to head the project, he said.
“They will actually own the facility and we will have the ground lease. Both BU and Spaulding ‘ Slye will rent 40,000 square feet of space for research,” he added. “We will be tenants in their building.”
According to the press release, BUMC will pre-lease floors one through five to serve as expanded institutional research and instructional space and will “facilitate relationships between industry and academia.”
“Partnering with Spaulding ‘ Slye Colliers creates a unique opportunity for Boston Medical Center to expand capacity for research space – space that is much needed,” said BUMC Executive Vice President Paul Drew.
Spaulding ‘ Slye Senior Vice President John Duffy said he and the company are excited to share the BioSquare with BUMC.
“It’s a significant opportunity for the firm to develop a piece of real estate,” Duffy said.
The firm will also benefit financially from the building, Towle said, gaining “a reasonable rate of return from their investment.”
On Friday afternoon, signs went up around BioSquare that offered Spaulding ‘ Slye’s 40,000 square feet for lease, Duffy said.
The company just finished getting municipal approvals and needs one more document and a building permit to get started officially, Duffy said. The leases should be signed within a week or two, he said.
“When those are done, we are ready for the construction,” he said.
Spaulding ‘ Slye Marketing Vice President Steve Steinberg said the firm plans to hold off on breaking ground until April because they want to wait for potential leasers to respond. In the meantime, the company will concentrate on promoting the facility.
“We’re going to maximize awareness in the marketplace by enhancing the existing brand by creating a mix of high end marketing materials,” Steinberg said.
In the future, Spaulding ‘ Slye Colliers hopes to collaborate on more BU construction projects, Duffy said.
“We would love to have the opportunity to do more work, contingent on how the lease goes with BioSquare,” he said.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
