BOSTON – Core Investments, Inc., a Boston real estate development and investment company, today announced the launch of DOTLabs, a large, two-building complex on Dorchester Avenue in South Boston that will be available soon for 140,000 square feet of life sciences, research and development, and manufacturing in Boston’s latest emerging tech and science cluster.
The industrial-scale buildings, at 2 and 4 Alger Streets, are being transformed with modern amenities and lab infrastructure upgrades, available for occupancy in mid-2022. Cushman & Wakefield has been engaged as the real estate broker and is talking with potential tenants.
The two existing buildings are located within a 20-plus acre former industrial neighborhood west of Dorchester Avenue with extraordinary access to public transportation and highway networks and are part of the vibrant South Boston community. They will be available for early occupancy at the same time an adjacent 9.1-acre property is being planned for 2.5 million more square feet of laboratory and office use in new buildings that will include ground-floor retail space.
Core Investments notified the Boston Planning and Development Agency in January of its Master Plan for the 9.1 acres, within the larger On the Dot® neighborhood, that includes three future lab buildings and a fourth that may include residential. Plans also call for over an acre of green space in the new life science cluster.
The area has unparalleled location and transportation advantages to serve Boston’s rapidly growing life sciences sector and meet existing demand for lab space. It is between Andrew Square Station and Broadway Station on the MBTA’s Red Line and near both I-93 and I-90 highways.
“DOTLabs features direct, multimodal access to Downtown, the Seaport, Kendall Square and Logan airport, making it the best location for new lab creation anywhere in Greater Boston,” said David Pogorelc, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Core Investments, Inc.
DOTLabs is also a 10-minute walk from West Broadway restaurants, Carson Beach, Moakley Park, and Dorchester Heights. The buildings will offer a café, fitness space, bike room, community room, welcoming outdoor green spaces, and visits from food trucks.
“The two DOTLabs buildings will be ready for occupancy next year, for tenants in an industry that is hungry for space in the Boston area, and this is an ultra-accessible location,” said Rob Byrne of Cushman & Wakefield. “This area is now going on the short lists of tenants who want to be in Boston.”
Commercial redevelopment of On the Dot® constitutes the welcome revival of an area that more than a century ago was an innovation and manufacturing powerhouse in Boston and for the nation. The area evolved into a light industrial district in the mid-1900s and is being redeveloped for the changing urban needs of a 21st Century economy and residents.
Core Investments has already begun remediation of the 9.1-acre parcel adjacent to DOTLabs, locally referred to as “The Junkyard,” a former industrial site and area with a history of contaminated waste disposal by prior owners. Core Investments is working on site cleanup and coordinating closely with state and federal agencies to ensure a proper completion. Several features of the proposed site will improve resiliency and flood resistance in the area while providing extensive outdoor space for the community and tenants.
“DOTLabs represents the initial step in the path to a brand new life sciences and technology neighborhood in Greater Boston, with valuable new space for laboratories, tech companies and newly created jobs on land near Andrew Square once famous for producing iron and industrial goods for all of America,” said John Cissel, Core Investments’ President of Development.
Read the Boston Globe’s coverage here.