Vertex Pharmaceutical Opens New Headquarters at 11 Fan Pier Boulevard
A ribbon-cutting ceremony recently marked the formal opening of Vertex Pharmaceutical’s global headquarters building in South Boston’s growing Innovation District. Located at 11 Fan Pier Boulevard in Fort Point, the $800 million complex that broke ground in June 2011consists of two, 16-story interconnected buildings designed to stimulate collaboration and attract new talented scientists to the 25-year-old biotech company.
By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor
A ribbon-cutting ceremony recently marked the formal opening of Vertex Pharmaceutical’s global headquarters building in South Boston’s growing Innovation District. Located at 11 Fan Pier Boulevard in Fort Point, the $800 million complex that broke ground in June 2011 consists of two, 16-story interconnected buildings designed to stimulate collaboration and attract new talented scientists to the 25-year-old biotech company.
Vertex Pharmaceutical HQ
The LEED-certified towers encompass 1.1 million square feet of commercial and retail space and were built by the Fallon Company, the commercial real estate developer behind the 21-acre mixed-use Fan Pier office complex, with Turner Construction as the general contractor of the project. The first building—50 Northern Avenue or Vertex Building A—was designed by the architectural firm Tsoi/Kobus & Associates of Cambridge, while design plans for Eleven Fan Pier Boulevard (Vertex Building B) were created by a team of architects from Elkus Manfredi. The two glass-faced towers which are connected by a walkway on the sixth floor include over 75 small informal collaboration spaces, a 500-seat cafeteria, 3,000 square feet of classroom and lab space for use by the Boston Public Schools (including Vertex’s partner schools Excel High School and Boston Green Academy), and ground floor retail space.
According to Boston.com, in May 2011 Vertex signed a lease agreement for the two buildings for a period of 15 years and will be paying the largest commercial rent in Boston (nearly $1.1 billion for the entire period or $72.5 million a year). Vertex hopes to bring all 1,300 of its Massachusetts employees together under the same roof by mid-2014.
“The opening of Vertex’s corporate headquarters in our Innovation District is an exciting day for Boston, for the Commonwealth, and for the millions of people around the world who stand to benefit from Vertex’s amazing work,” said Governor Patrick who attended the event along with Mayor Martin J. Walsh.
Founded in 1989 in Cambridge, Vertex has been one of the fastest growing companies focused on research and development of new medicines, creating more than 800 new jobs in Massachusetts alone over the past decade.
Rendering courtesy of Fan Pier Development
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