Quincy biotech, medical boomlet a bid to become another ‘next Kendall Square’

Quincy is making its bid to join the ranks of the next Kendall Square. Biotechnology and medical companies such as PharmaLogics, Boston Scientific, and Ras Labs have set up shop in Boston’s southern neighbor.

It’s not just the generally lower office rents in Quincy compared with those in Boston’s Seaport District or Cambridge’s Kendall. It’s the infrastructure too, in particular the proximity to four stops along the Red Line.

“We’re closer to the T here than we were downtown on the waterfront,” one executive told the Globe’s Leah Samuel. “We have better access to the trains, and that’s definitely a plus.”

Also, several new and planned residential developments promise lower prices and rents than those a few Red Line stops northward (though they can still be on the comparatively hefty side, with fresh two-bedrooms renting for around $3,000 a month in some cases and studios going for $1,500 and up).

Quincy officials and business boosters are aware that the city’s growing popularity vis-a-vis biotech and related industries could threaten the fabric of current neighborhoods. They’re stressing efforts to preserve and create affordable housing.

And the city is trying not to “overbuild, which I believe the Seaport and Kendall Square did,” as the head of the local chamber of commerce put it to Samuel. That certainly might be the case in Kendall right now, where existing infrastructure is straining against the popularity. Stay tuned.