Boston Business Journal by Julie M. Donnelly, Reporter
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) plans to sell its facility at 200 Cambridgepark Drive, near Alewife MBTA station.
It’s part of an overall strategy to consolidate the drug maker’s Cambridge, Mass operations in and around Kendall Square.
“If no one wants it, we’ll stay where we are,” Pfizer spokesman Steve Danehy said.
The building is one of three near Alewife that houses a total 700 workers in both administrative offices and research and development teams studying inflammation, immunology, and genetic diseases. Pfizer acquired the building in its 2009 acquisition of Wyeth for $68 billion. Pfizer recently vacated leased space nearby at 54 Cambridgepark Drive, which was bought by health care IT firm Vecna.
Pfizer plans to exit another Cambridge building on Memorial Drive after the Kendall Square facility is completed. Pfizer laid off 90 workers from the Memorial Drive facility last year who worked in therapeutic areas the company has abandoned.
The goal, Danehy said, would be to move the Alewife facility workers to Kendall Square.
“It’s just more efficient than having some operations across town,” he said. “And there’s everything nearby in Kendall Square, including venture capital firms.”
In November, the company held a groundbreaking for a building at 610 Main Street in Kendall Square, which Pfizer will lease from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Two Pfizer divisions, neuroscience and cardiovascular, are in the process of moving to Cambridge from Groton, Connecticut. Some workers are currently stationed in temporary digs nearby until the 600 Main Street building is completed in 2013.
Pfizer would seek additional Kendall Square space if the Alewife building were sold.
