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The region’s largest private developer of life science space is counting on industry growth in Allston, with newly filed plans for a large lab-ready complex on Western Avenue.
Boston-based King Street Properties proposes 539,400 square feet of office and lab space, 40 residential units and 21,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space.
The project, called NEXUS – The Allston Innovation Corridor, will be marketed to growing biotech firms as an alternative to Cambridge’s Kendall Square. King Street Properties is partnering with Boston-based Mugar Enterprises, which acquired the 4.3-acre site in 2016 for $13 million. The site includes the Stadium Auto Body property and several small industrial and retail properties.
Plans submitted to the Boston Planning and Development Agency call for a 7-story, 319,000-square-foot office-lab building at 250 Western Ave., a 6-story, 220,400-square-foot office-lab building at 305 Western Ave. and 40 residential units in a 6-story building at 280 Western Ave. Boston-based DiMella Shaffer is the project architect.
A BPDA impact advisory group will hold its first meeting on the project tonight at 6 p.m. at 123 Antwerp St. in Brighton.
King Street has developed and acquired lab buildings in submarkets including West Cambridge, Framingham, Lexington and Waltham in recent years, betting on continued growth of the life science cluster. King Street Properties and Mugar Enterprises have been in discussions about partnering on the Western Avenue development since 2017.
In a recent interview, King Street Principal Stephen Lynch said Allston is prime territory for life science growth, as Harvard University prepares to open an expanded 500,000-square-foot School of Engineering and Applied Sciences on Western Avenue in 2020.
“Every real estate developer has a knack for creating a map that makes the center of the universe look like the project they’re working on,” Lynch said. “But in the case of Western Avenue in Allston, it’s actually quite true.”
