CAMBRIDGE, MA—Joel S. Marcus, chairman, CEO and founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. tells Globest.com that his Pasadena, CA-based firm has never seen demand as strong for life science/biotech space here in the company's 20-year history.

Alexandria owns 5.2 million square feet of life science/biotech space in the Cambridge area, which includes approximately 1 million square feet of space that will be under construction later this year. The REIT is currently building 50-60 Binney St., a two-building complex that will feature 530,000 square feet of rentable office/laboratory space. Genzyme, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, has leased 251,234 square feet there and will relocate from 500 Kendall Square in Cambridge when the 50 Binney St. building is completed in 2018.

Marcus tells Globest.com that Alexandria is in lease discussions on 60 Binney St. and that an announcement is expected on those lease negotiations in the near future. Alexandria also expects to begin construction on the 431,000-square-foot 100 Binney St. building in the third quarter. In late June Alexandria struck a lease deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb for 208,000 square feet of space at that property.

“We have probably a dozen (lease) proposals on the rest of the (100 Binney St.) building that we are kind of juggling and sorting through,” Marcus says.

In terms of overall demand for office/research space in Cambridge at the moment, Marcus says, “It is probably the strongest we have ever seen it both in demand from the life science industry and from the tech industry wanting to be in Cambridge.”

Marcus adds that while life science and tech firms previously would settle for space in other areas of Greater Boston, most now are only considering Cambridge due to the area's access to talented and educated workers, its fine transportation system and its “vibrant 24-7 work environment.”

Alexandria Real Estate currently has about a 0% vacancy at its existing product in Cambridge. Marcus said that other non-company owned available properties in the life science and tech sector in the Cambridge area are mainly Class B and C product. “Our is the only true Class A laboratory-office space available today,” he boasts.

The company has a portfolio of approximately 193 properties totaling 18.5 million square feet. While it has its largest real estate holdings in Cambridge, Alexandria is a dominant player in the life sciences/tech arenas in the San Francisco Bay area where it owns 3.1 million rentable square feet of space; San Diego where it owns 3.5 million square feet; Seattle where it owns 746,000 square feet; New York City where it owns 813,000 rentable square feet; Maryland where it owns 2.2 million rentable square feet and Research Triangle Park in North Carolina where it has holdings totaling 1 million rentable square feet.

When asked to rate Cambridge against its other portfolio locations, he responds, “Today I think Cambridge is number one in life science and San Francisco is number one in tech.”

Earlier this month, Alexandria reported it had negotiated 1.9 million rentable square feet of lease deals during the second quarter of this year, a new record high in the 20-year history of the company. Marcus said the record leasing activity demonstrates the strong demand for its specialized urban innovation cluster campuses.