Building Molecules. Building Companies. Building… Buildings?
From Chemistry to Concrete: How Science Led Me to Real Estate
I was trained to build molecules, to study biological systems, and, in what used to be a hobby, to build robots. None of that would have suggested a career in real estate. Yet today my work sits at the intersection of science, infrastructure, and development — designing and delivering laboratories and life-science facilities that have redefined how research environments are built and operated.
A friend’s partner, who works in residential real estate, once asked how I ended up here. It is not an easy question to answer. I did not choose real estate as a profession. I followed the bottleneck in science until it led to buildings.
My academic background is in chemistry and biomedical engineering. My first company, Advanced Peptides, launched while I was still in my twenties. We engineered peptides, conjugates, and complex molecules for academic and pharmaceutical clients. Over eight years we completed more than 3,000 projects across 120 organizations including Harvard, Stanford, Pfizer, and Merck. That experience revealed how dependent scientific progress is on infrastructure — and how fragile that infrastructure can be.
In 2014 I co-founded Mass Innovation Labs, later renamed SmartLabs. The goal was not to build or lease real estate. It was to create a new kind of research infrastructure that could give biotechnology companies immediate access to enterprise-grade laboratories without the delays, cost, or permanence of traditional construction.
When we launched our first Kendall Square site, covered by The Boston Globe and the Boston Business Journal, the idea was simple: help companies start faster. At that point we did not think of ourselves as an incubator, accelerator, or leasing company, but those were the categories we competed against. To succeed, we had to understand how our clients used real estate — how they made decisions, managed risk, and compared options.
Our model was fundamentally different. Traditional laboratory development required long-term leases, capital-intensive buildouts, and commitments that outlasted the science itself. We designed a system that provided flexibility, scientific capability, and operational support within a managed framework. To explain and defend that model, we had to learn the real-estate logic inside and out.
Once the proof of concept was clear, we began planning for scale. We called it version 2.0 — a complete redesign of the company and a rebrand to SmartLabs. Only then did we focus on expansion as a real-estate strategy. Scaling required capabilities in site selection, developer partnerships, and financial structuring that could support hundreds of thousands of square feet across multiple cities.
As SmartLabs grew, the industry began to pay attention. I was invited to speak at the Boston Life Science Summit about the intersection of science and development, and later featured in Bisnow’s San Francisco coverage discussing the cost and engineering challenges of converting conventional office buildings into laboratory space. At Bisnow’s Bay Area Life Sciences Conference, I spoke about how facilities must evolve to support emerging modalities such as cell and gene therapy.
In Philadelphia, I collaborated with Gattuso Development Partners and Drexel University on the 3201 Cuthbert Street project, which will be the largest life-sciences facility in the city. The building combines research, vivarium, and pilot-scale manufacturing under one roof. Bisnow’s Philadelphia coverage later described it as a cornerstone of Philadelphia’s growing innovation district.
Two features from Lab Design News provided additional perspective on that evolution. The first, Professional Profile: Amrit Chaudhuri, detailed my background as a scientist and early entrepreneur. The second, A Conversation with SmartLabs CEO Amrit Chaudhuri, examined our engineering approach: modular architecture, computational design, and prefabricated systems that make laboratory space as dynamic as the science it houses.
Over time, that work led to broader collaboration with cities and developers. I was appointed to New York City’s Life Sciences Real Estate Advisory Board, which helps guide how the city expands research capacity and accelerates permitting for scientific facilities. Developers and institutional investors began asking for input on acquisition strategy, design logic, and how to position life-science assets in changing markets.
Through this process, I became fluent in the economics behind the buildings. Laboratory construction can cost between one and two and a half thousand dollars per square foot. Most major pharmaceutical companies own their campuses because of those economics. Developers, by contrast, acquire and entitle sites ahead of demand, installing enhanced infrastructure such as redundant power, specialized exhaust, and segregated wastewater systems that can support roughly sixty percent of scientific use cases. The remainder is customized for tenants.
For SmartLabs to grow nationally, we needed to understand that system precisely. We learned to structure partnerships that aligned incentives, reduced direct capital burden, and made projects underwritable. A development program that might have required one and a half billion dollars could instead be achieved with one-third of that capital through shared investment.
Over time, SmartLabs came to be seen not only as an operating company but as a design and engineering platform for the industry itself. Publications described our work as the foundation for “facilities of the future.” Cities began referencing our model as a blueprint for adaptive infrastructure. And I found myself increasingly working with developers, architects, and governments on how to build for what the next generation of science will require.
I did not plan to work in real estate. The science brought me here. To accelerate discovery, I had to understand the systems that limit it — physical, financial, and civic. Eventually, that meant learning how to design, build, and finance the infrastructure itself.
I still think of what I do as engineering. The medium simply changed. The molecules became buildings.
I am currently collaborating on new health and science infrastructure projects with the team at Kaliper, focusing on how integrated design, technology, and operations can make research and healthcare environments more efficient, adaptable, and sustainable.
References
Boston Business Journal – Mass Innovation Labs aims to house larger biotech startups in Kendall Square
The Boston Globe – Mass Innovation shared lab space launches in Kendall Square
Bisnow San Francisco – Too Low, Too Fragile, Too Short-Term: Life Sciences Conversions Are Popular But Hard To Pull Off
Bisnow Studio B – Facilities Of The Future: SmartLabs CEO Amrit Chaudhuri At Bisnow’s Bay Area Life Sciences Conference
Bisnow Philadelphia – Gattuso Life Sciences Tenant SmartLabs Accelerators Dominating UCity
Drexel University – SmartLabs to Become First Tenant of Drexel and Gattuso’s Life Science Research Lab Facility
Lab Design News – Professional Profile: Amrit Chaudhuri
Lab Design News – A Conversation with SmartLabs CEO Amrit Chaudhuri
NYCEDC – NYCEDC Names Members of Two Key Life Sciences Advisory Groups
Advanced Peptides – Company Overview
SmartLabs – Company Overview
Kaliper – Kaliper Company Overview