Biopharma Firm Triples Space at Boston Campus
Breakthrough Properties is developing the life science project.
Roche, a global biopharma company, is expanding its office footprint at One Milestone in the Innovation Center at the Harvard Enterprise Research Campus in Boston’s Allston submarket. Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture between Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, is developing the project.
The company has agreed to lease 100,000 square feet, representing an increase from the original 30,000-square-foot commitment signed in March 2025. The company had announced its original lease as the Roche Genentech Innovation Center, a biotech lab space for cardiovascular, renal and metabolism discovery, as well as initiatives with AI and data science. Roche will move into the new space in phases starting in mid-2026.
Leasing brokers for the One Milestone are Tishman Speyer’s Jeffrey Moore, managing director, and Victoria Robinson, senior associate; along with Cushman & Wakefield’s David Thomann, managing director; and Breakthrough Properties’ Maggie Dore, director of leasing, according to Yardi Matrix.
One Milestone under a microscope
The joint venture broke ground on the project in 2023, in a partnership with Harvard Allston Land Co. The development will span more than 520,000 square feet, Yardi Matrix shows. Architecture firms Henning Larsen and Studio Gang led the design of the project, which will span two buildings. Shared amenities for tenants include a fitness center and conference facility.
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One Milestone can handle large leases as well as startups through StudioLabs, Breakthrough’s lab-equipped, turnkey areas for high-growth life science companies. Located at 1 Milestone St., the development is less than half a mile from Harvard Business School and Harvard Innovation Labs. Boston Medical Center in Brighton is within approximately 2 miles from the property.
The larger development
The Innovation Center is part of a larger mixed-use project in Allston, Mass. The wider development features Verra, a 343-unit community that is already 60 percent leased and is set to open in the next few months. The Atlas Hotel, a 246-key property, is scheduled to open in winter 2026 and has started taking reservations. A rooftop restaurant and bar, Ama at the Atlas, is slated to open this coming spring, and will include 2,000 square feet for meeting and event space.
In October 2025, Harvard opened the David Rubenstein Treehouse, a university-wide conference center at the property. Events can be held year-round and accommodate as many as 755 people. Still to come is 40,000 square feet of retail along Allstonway, a public space spanning 2 acres that will connect to the Charles River. Additionally, Harvard Cooperative Society will open a book and apparel store in The Atlas.
Life science industry boosts CRE demand
Earlier in January, Somerville, Mass., saw another large life science lease agreement at BioMed Realty’s Assembly Innovation Park. TransMedics Group Inc. signed a 498,000-square-foot lease for the next 16 years to act as the company’s new headquarters.
Genentech, a Roche company, also shared in May 2025 that it was looking to construct a 700,000-square-foot drug manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, N.C. The project is set to cost $700 million and is the first manufacturing facility for the company on the East Coast.
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