Jadco Group has signed the first tenant for Phase 2 of Inspire Bio Innovations, its new life sciences hub in the downtown Montreal area, and is confident it will be fully leased by the time it is completed next year.

Ability Biotherapeutics, a Quebec antibody therapeutics company, will occupy 12,500 square feet. That comprises the entire sixth floor of the eight-storey, 90,000 square foot Phase 2 redevelopment on the site of the former Montreal Chest Institute.

Jadco previously announced precision medicine laboratory services firm CellCarta will rent all 95,000 square feet of Phase 1 and make the site of the former hospital its head office in Montreal. 

The Ability Biotherapeutics lease “is the first piece we’ve signed,” says Normand Rivard, managing partner, life sciences and innovation at Jadco Group. “But we have reserved space for floors one, two and third for an incubator and we’re currently in discussion with several incubators.”

The discussions are in advanced stages, he said, and “we’ve got tremendous support from the life sciences eco-system as well. We assume with the level of interest we have that it’s all going to be rented before we deliver” Phase 2 next year. 

The Inspire Bio Innovations project

The first two phases of Inspire Bio Innovations at 3650 Saint-Urbain St., between des Pins Ave. and Prince-Arthur St., are costing $200 million.

The project was conceived in 2023 as a $350-million investment to create a 450,000-square-foot life sciences centre at the former Montreal Chest Institute. It was aimed at filling a glaring lack of state-of-the-art laboratory facilities in downtown Montreal

However, the original project “includes a third phase which is still in the planning stages,” Rivard says. 

“Based on the reception and the fact that we already signed our first lease and there’s many more, we have a good funnel of opportunities and we’re already in advanced discussions with a few parties, it looks good,” he says. “With the support of the eco-system we strongly believe that there will be a Phase 3.” 

Rivard says a decision on Phase 3 is likely by the end of this year or early 2026. Phase 3 will either be located at the same site or nearby. “We’re looking at all options right now.” 

CellCarta space to be delivered this month

The first phase will be delivered to CellCarta by the end of May. CellCarta will move in with 350 employees – about a third of its global workforce - “and they have space to grow.”

The company currently has its head office and Montreal labs in the Université du Québec à Montréal’s Faculty of Science building office on President-Kennedy Ave. in downtown Montreal, 

Rivard says Inspire Bio Innovations is creating “a critical mass” in Montreal’s downtown area that is comparable to the Mars urban innovation hub in downtown Toronto.

Having a life sciences hub in the downtown area “was the missing piece for a very long time” when it comes to having a central cluster for pharmaceutical and life sciences development in Montreal.

Montreal has other life sciences clusters, including Technoparc Montreal in the borough of Saint-Laurent, which has more than 115 companies in life sciences, aerospace and technologies.

However, having a science hub downtown close to universities, the investment community and hospitals is “a one of a kind.” He maintains the site, which is also close to research centres and the city’s artificial intelligence hub in Mile-Ex, will help life sciences companies overcome recruitment challenges.

In addition, the current unfriendly environment in the U.S. for scientists, with budgets being cut, “is playing to our advantage in terms of attraction for U.S. biotechs and science.”

Montreal a highly affordable market

According to CBRE’s 2023 Montreal Lab Market Report, released last year, Greater Montreal’s life sciences sector stands out from other major North American cities as one of the most affordable markets for both real estate and labour. Lab net rental rates average $39.50 per square foot per annum, compared to $80 in Toronto, $136.57 in Boston and $149.60 in New York City.

Rivard would not provide asking average rental rates for Inspire Bio Innovations.

Last year, Inspire Bio Innovations was named Future Office Project of the Year by the World Architecture Festival. Judges praised how the development “successfully repurposed an abandoned urban infrastructure, integrated heritage elements, enhanced community resilience and incorporated sustainable development.”

Inspire Bio Innovations includes the former Montreal Chest Institute, which moved to the site near Mount Royal in the 1930s largely due to the belief in the curative powers of mountain air for tuberculosis patients. The Chest Institute stayed there until 2015 when it relocated to the new Glen site of the McGill University Health Centre in Notre Dame de Grâce.

Much of the former hospital exterior was maintained by architectural firm Neuf Architect(e)s, while the interior was transformed for Phase 1. The new hub features a glass atrium that connects the buildings in the two phases, areas with floor-to-ceiling windows and a rooftop terrace. 

Rivard says the award is a big plus to help attract potential tenants: “It’s just another piece of the puzzle that makes the project very attractive for people.”

Founded in 1987, Jadco Group designs, develops and builds residential and industrial projects and acts as a property manager. Jadco and its institutional partners have accumulated more than $1.2 billion in investments in Quebec.