Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., a large biotechnology firm with a quiltwork of locations around Cambridge, is considering consolidating its local operations in a new gleaming office tower at Fan Pier on the South Boston Waterfront, according to several people familiar with discussions.
Landing the fast-growing Vertex would be a coup for developer Joseph F. Fallon, who has just started construction of the first buildings on the 21-acre Fan Pier site. Vertex would be the first tenant in the decades-in-development Fan Pier, and its move there would be a sign of the viability of the waterfront as a home for a prominent company in a burgeoning industry.
Vertex could conceivably have its name displayed prominently on the building, which would be visible both from downtown Boston and from points such as Logan Airport.
Neither Vertex nor Fallon would discuss the biotech company's interests at Fan Pier. "We would have great interest in entertaining any pharmaceutical or life sciences user that would want to look at Fan Pier," said Fallon.
Vertex spokesman Michael Partridge said the firm has made no commitment to occupy new space. "We are currently in the early stages of examining our long-term real estate options, both within Cambridge or elsewhere in the Greater Boston area, to support the growth in our business," he said.
Real estate firm CB Richard Ellis, which represents both Fan Pier in its hunt for tenants and Vertex in its search for a new location, also declined to comment.
Fallon held an event in September to celebrate the groundbreaking of his first building, of about 500,000 square feet, to open in 2009. That Northern Avenue building is designated for office use but has no tenants signed up yet. Nonetheless, Fallon pushed forward with construction anyway, buoyed by the recent rise in office rents and the decline in vacancy.
Founded in 1989, Vertex has been growing rapidly as it edges closer to marketing an experimental drug called telaprevir to treat the hepatitis C virus. Since the start of 2005, Vertex has increased its Cambridge workforce by two-thirds to about 850 employees and currently has nearly 150 local job openings. Vertex has about 1,100 employees worldwide.
The company has a need for both office and lab space. According to executives familiar with the talks, Vertex is considering taking all of the second commercial building, also about 500,000 square feet and on Northern Avenue, that Fallon plans to construct. If Vertex does sign on, construction of this second building could begin in 2008, and it could be ready for occupancy in 2011. Vertex would also have room to expand in future buildings on Fan Pier.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino has been pushing the developers of the South Boston Waterfront to add more diverse uses to the plans they're plotting for the large tracts of land in this neighborhood.
After decades of promise and delays, the Fan Pier complex is fully permitted for just under 3 million square feet of commercial, residential, hotel, and retail space, with parking, at an estimated cost of well over $1 billion. Fallon said again this week he intends to start building a hotel and residential condominium building in 2008, adjacent to the Institute of Contemporary Art, which opened last year.
Fallon recently signaled that he was trolling not only for traditional office tenants - such as financial services or law firms - but also for biotech or life sciences companies. For example, he recently filed an application with the city to allow him to build lab space in his next commercial building. Labs typically require higher ceilings than the normal 10 feet or so in office buildings, and their electrical, plumbing, and ventilation systems are more extensive. The Boston Redevelopment Authority is expected to approve his request to add that use to Fan Pier at a meeting today.
Moving to Fan Pier would resolve another need that Vertex may have - room to grow. Fallon's permits allow him some flexibility in the use - office or residential - of the subsequent half-dozen buildings he plans at Fan Pier before it is completed, in a decade or so.
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com, Todd Wallack at twallack@globe.com.
