Vericel on the move from Cambridge to Burlington

The cell therapy company has signed a lease for a new HQ and manufacturing facility off Route 3.

An artist's rendering of the building that will house cell therapy firm Vericel in Burlington.SGA

Another Cambridge biotech is moving to the suburbs in search of room to grow.

Cell therapy company Vericel said this week that it will lease 125,000 square feet at the Network Drive campus in Burlington for a new corporate headquarters, lab space, and manufacturing facility. Vericel is now based on Sidney Street near Central Square, where it has been located since moving to that city in 2014.

The new building in developer Nordblom’s Northwest Park complex along Route 3 is set to open in 2024, with commercial production of Vericel’s cell therapies for sports medicine and burn treatments expected to launch there in 2025.

“This important manufacturing expansion plan represents another major milestone for the company,” said CEO Nick Colangelo, in a statement. “We also are very pleased to locate our new facility in a campus focused on developing and managing environmentally responsible real estate in the Boston area, which will ensure that we will have continued access to the world-class talent and infrastructure that is critical to our long-term success.”

It’s the latest in a wave of life science companies migrating to corners of Greater Boston as the region’s biotech industry outgrows its early home around MIT. Rents in Burlington and nearby northwestern suburbs are roughly half of what they are in East Cambridge, with significantly more space available as developers build — or convert office buildings into — new lab space.

In Burlington, Nordblom is building a massive mixed-use campus — including more than 1 million square feet of commercial space as well as housing and retail — on 158 acres near the intersection of routes 3 and 128. Todd Fremont-Smith, senior vice president of development, said the firm has received strong interest from life science companies in the area.

”We are honored to partner with Vericel Corporation in its relocation to Burlington,” he said. “This is an important transaction and is further proof that the Burlington life science cluster continues to evolve and expand.”