Cambridge gene therapy firm bluebird bio to move to Somerville
Gene development company bluebird bio Inc. will move its headquarters to 455 Grand Union Blvd. in Somerville in 2022. The office is also home to the new North American headquarters of global sports brand Puma.
Cambridge-based gene therapy developer bluebird bio Inc. is moving its headquarters to Somerville following the spinout of its oncology portfolio.
Some 425 bluebird (Nasdaq: BLUE) employees will occupy 61,000 square feet at 455 Grand Union Blvd. by spring 2022. The office is home to the North American headquarters of global sports brand Puma and is part of Federal Realty Investment Trust’s Assembly Row mixed-use development.
The workspace “is designed to enable a distributed work model” and allows “for increased engagement and productivity for all employees, as hybrid work is here to stay.”
Bluebird will keep its existing facilities at 60 Binney St. in Cambridge’s Kendall Square through 2023.
The downsized space allows bluebird to save on its overhead costs from its real estate footprint, said Jason Cole, bluebird’s chief business officer, in a statement.
“Over the past 18 months, we have transformed the way we work and live as we’ve navigated through the Covid-19 pandemic and re-established ourselves as a company focused on pursuing curative gene therapies for severe genetic disease,” Cole said. “We are excited to migrate to our new nest at Assembly Row and to work with Federal to design a space that allows us to work smarter and meet the changing needs of our business and expectations of our birds – now and in the future.”
More biotech companies are targeting Somerville as a potential expansion area as Cambridge’s Kendall Square becomes an ever more expensive place to develop or lease lab space. Several Flagship Pioneering companies, for example, have leased space at nearby Boynton Yards.
“Our partnership with bluebird bio continues to validate our investment here in Somerville and we anticipate more in the sector to follow as we continue to build out the neighborhood,” said Patrick McMahon, senior vice president at Federal Realty (NYSE: FRT), in a statement. “It’s truly exciting to have bluebird’s innovative work continue as part of our evolving ecosystem.”