With the first buildings at the Aggie Square project in Sacramento only months away from opening, one of the developers is rolling out a leasing option for smaller companies needing lab and office space.
Set to open in March 2025, Connect Labs by Wexford would occupy 50,000 square feet across two buildings at the education and innovation hub on Stockton Boulevard.
"It's more or less 'a la carte,' offering lab and office space," said Kathy Webb, vice president of Connect Labs with Baltimore-based Wexford Science & Technology LLC. Size options will range from 450 to 5,600 square feet, suitable for a variety of uses. "Plenty of options available."
The Connect Lab spaces in separate buildings will themselves be connected to each other, and will also be able to access shared amenity, support and equipment space.
Webb said with a focus on startup companies and small entrepreneurial ventures, it's accurate to describe Connect Labs as a coworking space for companies that need access to turnkey labs, wet or dry.
Thomas Osha, Wexford's executive vice president, said an option like Connect Labs is unusual in Sacramento, but isn't for his company, which has them in other Knowledge Center developments across the country.
"We believe it's a good opportunity to bring to Sacramento," said Osha, whose firm is partnering with University of California Davis to develop Aggie Square south of UC Davis Medical Center.
Tenants that land at Connect Labs will also have access to more than $1.2 million in specialized equipment and can negotiate rates for additional equipment, consumables and supplies.
Common areas for tenants will include conference and huddle spaces, a lightly stocked kitchen and centralized support services. Osha said the common spaces will also in some cases be available for Aggie Square tenants at large, and host both internal and outward-facing events as Aggie Square becomes part of the community.
Wexford and UC Davis first struck up a relationship about seven years ago, and that deepened after Wexford submitted the winning proposal for what became Aggie Square a few years later, he said.
From the project's inception, creating something like Connect Labs was part of the overall plan, he added.
"It was the right time to announce it," he said, as the buildings draw closer to completion by year's end.
Osha said efforts to lease space within Aggie Square have been slow going, though he'd point out that's generally true of office space leasing across the company. In recent weeks, as the buildings have started to become more tangible, he said, interest has picked up, including building tours.
"We're seeing that start to materialize," he said.
The first phase of Aggie Square is expected to have 1.1 million square feet.
