Life Sciences: Construction in the City vs. Suburbs

March 30, 2022

Life sciences has been the most promising commercial real estate vertical in the Philadelphia region for a little while now. It continues to experience growth as companies from all over the world are starting to find the Greater Philadelphia market attractive due to our talent pool and location… but should companies choose to locate their facilities in the city or suburbs? Many times, it will depend on project costs and/or the availability of lab space.

University City, home to world-class research hospitals and a growing number of cell and gene therapy companies, is an especially attractive spot due to the proximity to the airport, accessibility to many public transportation options, and the continual growth of the residential and entertainment markets. With lab space at a very low vacancy rate, many city developers and landlords are actively considering renovating typical office buildings into labs, which does not allow for a straightforward solution. When renovating high-rise buildings, floor-to-ceiling heights, MEP overhauls, and structural modifications can be both challenging and costly. As a result, when possible, developers and landlords also look to build out of the ground.

On the other hand, the suburban market offers a less costly solution from a labor perspective but certainly still has the same design and construction challenges. The main advantage of the suburban areas for life science companies is the ability for more out-of-the-ground opportunities due to the availability of more land.

Boston and European life science companies will continue to move or open locations within the Greater Philadelphia market due to the favorable rental rates, lower construction costs, and the excellent talent pool for the foreseeable future. The Philadelphia area is a great place for companies to recruit talent from universities such as Drexel, UPenn, PCOM, St. Joseph’s, Villanova, Penn State, and Temple. These factors will drive developers and landlords to continue investing, updating, and building new spaces to handle the ongoing demand in both the city and suburban markets.

Testimonials

Corporate Renovation for DPS Group - Conshohocken, PA

Due to the extreme pace our business has been growing, we were in need of new office space sooner than later. However, we didn’t have the bandwidth to manage the process internally. The FGX Group was able to get started immediately with assembling an overall project budget and schedule in order to set proper expectations, particularly important in today’s real estate climate. He was instrumental in design oversight, and assembling the balance of the project team including the general contractor, IT related vendors, the furniture dealer, and all other pertinent firms. We are thrilled to be in our new space and couldn’t be more grateful for having Frank to assist us with the process so we could concentrate on continuing to grow our business.

Ryan McDonough, Senior Vice President – Project Operations, DPS Group

Self Storage Renovation Projects for Home Star Storage - Various Locations

As someone who works in self storage conversions, I work with The FGX Group on all my major projects. Unlike ground-up construction, conversion projects often have unexpected circumstances and last-minute surprises that don't necessarily jump out from the beginning of the project, even with careful planning. Working with The FGX Group, I know our team is ready for the unexpected in each project – whatever that may be. We appreciate working closely with them to bring more well-built storage projects to fruition on-time and on-budget up and down the eastern United States.

Joseph Murphy, Chief Operating Officer, Home Star Storage

Renovations to Children's Dental Management - Philadelphia, PA

Frank Gallagher and The FGX Group were instrumental in assisting me to assemble the project team and formulate a plan to complete our new Orthodontics and Surgery Center suites in Philadelphia. With Frank’s help in managing the contractors, various vendors, and coordination activities with the landlord, it allowed me to concentrate on other responsibilities at CDM. Frank has a knack to bring everyone together to focus on one goal. I would work with him again.

Jim DeFruscio – Children’s Dental Management

Renovation of Medical Office for Pure Dental Brands - Upper Darby, PA

From my perspective, here is what The FGX Group did that helped us achieve a successful build out of our new office location: Their contract spelled out all of the responsibilities that they would own, and they carefully broke down all of the job functions and steps with milestones; they also made it clear what were their vs. our tasks; they outlined the project timeline and costs and lived by them; they were 100% successful as a project manager because they kept us on track and had excellent communication and follow-up skills; they owned a number of key tasks around permitting and working with the local town/city that we could not have known about or handled – and they were done successfully; and they escalated issues when appropriate and prepared us in advance of issues, so that when they came up, we could quickly resolve.

The results were excellent – the office is beautiful, and it has helped us grow our business!

Frank Coliano, Chief Executive Officer, Pure Dental Brands

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Contact

Address

26 Treaty Dr, Wayne, PA 19087

Email

frankgallagher@thefgxgroup.com

Phone

 610.331.6354

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