Pfizer to Consolidate Operations to Kendall Square Complex

CAMBRIDGE, MA—Drug maker Pfizer is consolidating operations currently housed in three locations here to a new 500,000-square-foot R&D complex at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's 610 Main St. South and 610 Main St. North buildings.

Pfizer moved into the 180,000-square-foot 610 Main St. South office building in 2014 where it is the sole tenant. The company announced it has signed a lease to occupy 610 Main St. North, which is currently under construction. A Pfizer spokesman tells Globest.com the company plans to move into the new facility in early 2017.

The expansion at the Kendall Square complex will enable Pfizer to shift operations from leased space at 300 Tech Square, 700 Main St. and 10 Fawcett St. When the company occupies its new space at 610 Main St. North, the company will have approximately 500,000 square feet of leased space at the two buildings where it will house approximately 1,000 employees. No new hires are expected in conjunction with the company's move to the Kendall Square campus

Pfizer spokesman Dean Mastrojohn says that the company will initially occupy 370,000 square feet at the two building complex and will put approximately 130,000 square feet of space on the market for sublease. That space will become available in 2017. Mastrojohn says that Pfizer is currently toying with the idea of creating a bioscience incubator in the unused space. No terms of the new lease with Massachusetts Institute of Technology Investment Management Co., a subsidiary of MIT, were released.

Pfizer's consolidated operations in Cambridge will  focus on rare diseases, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, inflammation and immunology, neuroscience, and advanced biotherapeutic technologies. The expanded 370,000-plus square foot KSQ research center will help foster a strong laboratory culture, with experimentation and collaboration in the heart of Cambridge's Kendall Square innovation hub, featuring state-of-the-art labs and an open design to help foster breakthrough productivity and innovation that will potentially advance Pfizer's pipeline, the company states.

“We are creating an expansive research facility that will allow for stronger collaborations in the Boston/Cambridge bioscience community and open new doors to unique partnerships,” says Michael Ehlers, M.D., Ph.D., head of Pfizer Cambridge. “As researchers, we work every day to advance the science that creates new transformative medicines for patients in need. By bringing together some of the greatest minds in the industry in an open and flexible environment, we believe we will be poised now more than ever to help accelerate discovery, incubate innovation in creative ways, and increase the pace of innovation.”

The expanded Pfizer campus in Kendall Square affords the pharmaceutical company more laboratory capabilities in proximity to one another, opportunities for collaborations between Pfizer and smaller start-ups and/or biotechs, the ability to coalesce functions from across Pfizer R&D currently spread across Cambridge and close proximity to new companies—and a venue to consider creating potential new entities out of Pfizer-specific programs, assets and venture capital partnerships that are geared to enhancing Pfizer's R&D capabilities.

“We're pleased to expand our agreement with Pfizer and continue working together in a highly sophisticated campus that will be mutually beneficial to MIT, Pfizer, other companies, researchers, and the City of Cambridge,” says Steven Marsh, managing director for Real Estate at MIT Investment Management Company. “Kendall Square has become a highly productive area for research for companies of all sizes and scale. We believe the more collaborative activity we foster in the community, the more we can help advance innovation and scientific discoveries.”