Suburban Laboratories Lose Luster As Life Sciences Seek Urban Settings

Suburban research laboratories face increasing competition from urban centers as proximity to talent and capital drive life science companies’ site-location choices, said Joseph Simone of Simone Development Companies.

BRONX, N.Y., July 25, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Suburban research laboratories face increasing competition from urban centers as proximity to talent and capital drive life science companies’ site-location choices, said Joseph Simone of Simone Development Companies.

“Even in New Jersey—which boasts considerable life sciences laboratories in suburban settings—there is movement toward urban cores,” said Joe Simone, President of Simone Development Companies. “In Jersey City’s Exchange Place neighborhood, a former Palmolive factory has been converted into a 340,000-square-foot lab-ready office building that is a short ferry ride to Manhattan’s Financial District.”

A recent report noted that life science companies are flocking to New York City because of its research hospitals, universities, and venture capital. This urban migration is also driven by the search for top talent, which increasingly prefers to live and work in urban environments offering easy access to diverse cultural, entertainment and retail experiences — qualities that many suburban laboratories can’t match.

One of New York City’s innovation clusters is in the Bronx’s Morris Park neighborhood, where the Montefiore-Einstein Accelerated Biotechnology Research Center will soon open. This biomanufacturing operation will focus on cell, gene, and antibody therapy production.

Simone Development Companies’ 42-acre Hutchinson Metro Center is across the street from the Albert Einstein College and Montefiore Medical Center. The campus is anchored by Montefiore, which occupies the entirety of Tower Two and parts of Tower One.

As in the case of the new Jersey City complex, knowledge workers and other talent in Manhattan can reach the Montefiore-Einstein Accelerated Biotechnology Research Center by public transportation. With the anticipated commuter rail station next to the Hutchinson Metro Center, knowledge workers will enjoy a short train ride to Manhattan’s Penn Station.

“Life-science start-ups are making strategic decisions to settle near the talent and financiers who want to be in big cities. Our planned expansion of the Hutchinson Metro Center to include lab-ready offices is a response to the latest needs of medical research and technology development,” said Patricia Simone, Principal and President of the Simone Management Group.

Simone Development Companies is a full-service real estate investment company specializing in the acquisition and development of healthcare, mixed-use, office, industrial, retail and residential properties. Headquartered at the Hutchinson Metro Center, it boasts a portfolio of over 7 million square feet throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Long Island, Westchester County, Orange and Fairfield Counties and New Jersey. With services spanning acquisition, development, construction, finance, asset management, accounting, leasing and property management, Simone Development Companies is set apart by its vertically integrated management team, long-term asset ownership and its pursuit of visionary development.