Roche Genentech Innovation Center to Open on Harvard's Enterprise Research Campus

Roche announced the launch of the Roche Genentech Innovation Center in March of 2025 on Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus in Allston. With an initial lease of 30,000 sf of lab space in the first phase of construction, Roche intends to expand their R&D presence to eventually accommodate 500 employees. The initiative will bring together cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism experts with data science and AI specialists to accelerate innovation in drug discovery and development. The facility’s strategic location will strengthen Roche’s existing partnership with Harvard and create recruitment pipelines with local talent in the Greater Boston cluster. 

Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus is a mixed-use development that is targeting LEED Gold sustainable design certification. Representing an estimated project cost of $1.5 billion, the first 900,000-sf phase of construction broke ground in 2023 and will include:

• a $263 million life science center composed of two buildings providing a total of 440,000 sf of lab and office space
• a $78 million, 250-room hotel offering meeting rooms and a rooftop restaurant
• a $158 million, 343-unit residential complex consisting of two towers
• the David Rubenstein Treehouse, a conference center integrating mass timber components

The second phase is expected to provide an additional 720,000 sf of laboratory, office, and R&D space, as well as 320,000 sf of residential housing with ground-floor retail and community amenities.

The design team includes Henning Larsen, Studio Gang, Moody Nolan, Utile, MVRDV, and Marlon Blackwell Architects. Breakthrough Properties and Tishman Speyer are the developers, and Turner Construction is delivering the project in association with J&J Contractors and Janey Construction Management. Harvard Allston Land Company is acting as the university’s planning and management organization for the project, which is slated for completion in 2026.