Boulder Lands Largest Lab Lease Since 2022 As VC Fuels Optimism

A small surge in life sciences leasing nationwide came to the Denver lab market at the end of 2025, with a 64K SF lease signed by CordenPharma Colorado becoming the largest lab lease in the market since 2022.

CordenPharma’s lease at BioMed’s Flatiron Park property in Boulder was one of four that made up 147K SF of leasing activity in the fourth quarter, according to CBRE. It is a positive sign after years of sluggish leasing activity in Colorado and across the country.

Still, the Denver-area life sciences market recorded no net absorption in the fourth quarter, an indication that while the market isn’t deteriorating, it will need a steep increase in demand to fill the space built during the lab development heyday that followed pandemic lockdowns. Direct vacancy in the fourth quarter was 12.5%.

“We are seeing an uptick in active tenants, groups coming into the market looking for brochures and making inquiries and touring spaces, both in traditional life science and quantum,” said Erik Abrahamson, senior vice president and life sciences leasing specialist at CBRE.

The end of last year saw the first positive absorption nationally since 2022, which could be a positive sign for Boulder, since it typically trails larger markets like Cambridge, Massachusetts, San Francisco and San Diego, Abrahamson said. Landlords are increasingly offering concessions like free rent or tenant improvement allowances to entice tenants into their spaces.

Boulder is heavy on young, venture-backed companies, so recent strong venture capital funding is a positive indicator, Abrahamson said. Life sciences-directed VC funding in the Denver and Boulder market reached $512M in 2025, its highest level since before the pandemic.

Abrahamson said he expects to start to see the impacts from that funding later this year. 

“It takes some time for those funds to work their way through the company to lead to expansion,” he said.

With the available space on the market, construction has slowed, and nothing has broken ground since 2024, according to CBRE. The development pipeline sat at 241K SF at the end of 2025.

Abrahamson doesn’t expect to see any additional life sciences or lab construction in the near term.

“We still have a fair amount of space that needs to be absorbed before we start adding new space to the ecosystem,” he said.

But compared to markets where greater amounts of building occurred, the Denver area may benefit from having less space and “recover faster because our path to recovery is shorter,” Abrahamson said.