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Boston & New England  + Metro Boston  + Healthcare  | 
Cambridge Skyline

Cambridge Okays BioMed Plans for Office-to-Lab Conversion

The planning board of Cambridge, MA granted Blackstone and BioMed Realty a special permit to turn 350 Massachusetts Ave., a five-story office building near MIT, into life sciences labs, the Boston Business Journal reported. The office space and much of the retail space in the 118,265-square-foot, brick-and-steel building are vacant due to shifts in market demand from the pandemic.

“This proposed change will revitalize the building and better align with current market demands, which, particularly in Cambridge, favor life sciences and research spaces,” the application reads.

The proposed changes at 350 Massachusetts Ave. will create 60% laboratory and 40% office spaces on floors two through five and retail spaces on the ground floor. The building was constructed in the late 1990s, and while a facade refresh has also been proposed, Blackstone and BioMed said they plan to preserve the building’s existing brick veneer and arches.

BioMed acquired 350 Mass. Ave. in 2021 from Brookfield Asset Management as part of a larger transaction.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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