101 South Street now home to four Flagship Pioneering-founded companies

Today, the development venture of DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners (DLJ), Leggat McCall Properties (LMP) and Deutsche Finance America (DFA) joined the City of Somerville and Flagship Pioneering companies to cut the opening ribbon on 101 South Street, the first purpose-built Class-A lab building in Somerville as part of the Boynton Yards 1.8 million square foot, mixed-use life sciences and cultural community. 

The first of four master planned life sciences buildings, 101 South Street offers best-in-class, high-efficiency infrastructure where companies can imagine and grow. The nine-story, 289,000 square-foot building offers state-of-the-art R&D lab/office space, a fitness center, bike amenities, four levels of below-grade parking, and on-site retail offerings. A ground floor conference center along with Arts and Creative Enterprise space (ACE) within the building and centered in the “Hive” at 561 Windsor Street are available for use by tenants and the Somerville Community. Coming this summer, Firefly and Portico Brewery will open serving food and beverages. 

The building was pre-leased prior to completion to Flagship Pioneering, a bioplatform innovation company headquartered in Cambridge, to meet critical growth needs for its companies Tessera Therapeutics, Laronde, Cellarity, and Generate Biomedicines. These tenants occupy 280,000 square feet on eight floors.

Designed by architects Spagnolo Gisness & Associates and Hashim Sarkis Studios, the building was conceived with flexibility and sustainability for emerging life sciences and technology companies. Each floor has 35,000 square feet of column-free floor plates surrounding the building’s core, offering tenants flexibility to grow and redesign to meet the needs of their workforce. The building will achieve LEED Gold and WiredScore Platinum certifications, a testament to the sustainable and highly efficient design approach.

General contractor Shawmut Design and Construction completed the job on time despite pandemic-related obstacles and lockdowns. Enhanced safety protocols to support public health mandates were employed to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 across the job site. 

Boynton Yards will be a model for leading urban design with a progressive mobility management plan to decrease traffic and encourage connectivity using alternative transportation modes.  Supportive amenities include on-site bike facilities, Bluebikes stations, e-bike access, a dedicated tenant shuttle and pedestrian access to the new Union Square MBTA GLX train station just a short walk away.

As the first master planned development to be approved under the new Somerville zoning ordinance as part of the City’s SomerVision comprehensive plan, Boynton Yards has evolved through an inclusive community-driven urban revitalization process.  With neighborhood input, the future of the seven-acre site now includes commercial, residential, retail, public green, arts and performance spaces that will transform the area into a vibrant work-live-play neighborhood.  

Offering a contemporary cultural experience, residents, scientists and artists will enjoy a micro-community that includes more than two acres of civic and green space.  The project brings approximately 4,000 permanent jobs to the City of Somerville and will establish it as one of the region’s most prominent life sciences hubs.

“Usually when we hold a ribbon-cutting, we’re celebrating one new great thing, like a library renovation or a new monument. But the opening of 101 South Street reflects how civic leadership, a community-driven development process, and private investment can also work together to advance multiple community goals at once,” said Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne. “Not only will this project establish a vital new anchor for  life sciences in our region, it will bring with it jobs, innovation, new tax revenues, leading-edge sustainable construction, new open space, contributions to our affordable housing and jobs trusts funds, and ultimately the Boynton Yards project area will also support new housing and artist and maker space creation as well. That’s a lot of items on our checklist, and I applaud everyone that helped us get here.”