StarbeamII t1_ixnme82 wrote
Reply to comment by Nomahs_Bettah in The lack of homes could strangle our life sciences industry: Why the concentration of biopharma in Cambridge and Boston would ratchet up costs, exacerbate the housing crisis, and pitch the region from its throne. by writethefuture3
If your lab is in an office park in Lexington or Bedford or much of Waltham, there's no option to get there by transit, especially if you live in another suburb. Those are also not exactly affordable places either. If you want to work there you have to drive in. Whereas the MBTA network is basically designed to bring people into Boston itself, so there are loads of viable transit options that don't clog up the roads.
Most biotech lab work has to be done on-site. That's part of the reason why building commercial lab space is so popular nowadays post-pandemic - while office spaces sit vacant as their employees WFH, bio labs don't face that risk as their tenants can't do that.
Nomahs_Bettah t1_ixnub8o wrote
But that traffic isn’t going into the city, and I’ve found that most people in wealthy suburbs are averse to transit anyway. Particularly if they’re building in Lexington, for example; it’s also a shorter commute for people in that area than Lexington to Cambridge. I think that people will drive in is fine.
Lab work has to be done on-site, but I’m also thinking of all the positions that can do hybrid; like legal, HR, etc.
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