BOSTON–Phase 3 Real Estate Partners has added to its growing Boston-area portfolio with the acquisition of a newly built life sciences building in Cambridge’s Kendall Square — even as much of the region’s lab space remains vacant.
According to reporting by the Boston Business Journal (BBJ), the San Diego-based developer purchased the empty lab property at 30 Hampshire St. for $25 million. The deal closed on October 31, marking Phase 3’s latest move to strengthen its foothold in the nation’s top biotech hub.
As BBJ noted, the 30,000-square-foot building sits on a small but highly coveted site just steps from Draper Labs, the Broad Institute, and Moderna’s headquarters — a prime location despite the building’s lack of tenants.
Phase 3 Real Estate did not respond to BBJ’s request for comment on the acquisition.
The company already owns 10 other lab buildings in the Boston region, BBJ reported, including a 254,000-square-foot facility at 250 Arsenal St. in Watertown completed last year. Its portfolio also includes a Financial District property at 55 Summer St. being converted into labs, as well as holdings in Fort Point, Waltham, and 640 Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
The seller, Last2 Development of Charlestown, originally bought the 30 Hampshire St. site for just $400,000 in 2014, according to city records cited by BBJ. At the time, the small parcel—just over one-tenth of an acre—was home to a modest real estate office and restaurant, the kind of low-rise uses now rare in the fast-developing Kendall Square district.
While the building’s sale underscores continued investment interest in Cambridge’s life sciences market, the broader picture is more mixed. BBJ highlighted data from real estate firm Hunneman showing that the Greater Boston lab market now faces a 26.7% vacancy rate, a sharp contrast to the pandemic-era boom that saw developers racing to build new lab space without tenants secured.
Even East Cambridge, typically among the tightest submarkets, has a 19.7% vacancy rate, BBJ said—still high by local standards.
Despite the current surplus of space, major biotech firms like Biogen and Takeda are continuing to bet on Kendall Square, where both companies have new buildings under construction, according to BBJ.
Phase 3’s purchase of 30 Hampshire St. may signal a long-term confidence in Cambridge’s status as the nation’s life sciences epicenter—one that developers and investors continue to view as a cornerstone of the biotech industry, even amid a cooling market.
