21 Feb Madison’s life sciences market larger than expected
Whether one uses the term life sciences, biotech, or biohealth, facilities that make up Greater Madison’s “bio” market have more square footage than the same markets in several of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, including New York, Atlanta, and Houston, according to the first Madison-focused “Life Science Real Estate Market Report” published by Broadwing Advisors.
With an inventory of 4.8 million square feet of lab space in 89 lab facilities, Madison also has a much lower life science market vacancy (2%) than most large markets, a sign that it has avoided overbuilding even though more than 40% of local industry growth has occurred during the past 10 years.
Yet there are some aspects of the local market that could be improved, especially the development of a more robust population of mid-sized companies, according to Craig Stanley, founding principal of Broading Advisors. Broadwing is a commercial real estate advisory service that has worked with local life sciences firms such as Aldevron, Exact Sciences, and Nimble Therapeutics.
Stanley cited two key takeaways from this initial study. First, he was surprised by the size of the Madison life sciences market because before undertaking this project, he thought it was about half that size. Secondly, the study found that 60.4% of the Madison life sciences market is made up of 10 large companies, but it has few of what Stanley called “saplings,” which are mid-sized organizations in the 5,000- to 30,000-square-foot range.
Even with a thin middle market, Madison stacks up better than expected, he said. The local life sciences market has more than 11,200 employees with a healthy supply of labor thanks to more than 1,500 industry degrees and certificates conferred annually at local colleges and universities.
“We’re basically surprised at how big of a market we are when compared to some of the others,” Stanley said. “Obviously, we’re not San Diego’s size, but for a community of our size, we are doing very well.”