Watertown Planning Board Approves 66 Galen Street Life Science Building Sign Permit

WATERTOWN -- July 8, 2026, Watertown Planning Board approves 66 Galen Street life science building sign master plan on a 4-1 vote. The board conditionally approved a sign special permit for the 225,000-square-foot building at 66 Galen Street, home to three full-floor life science tenants, LabShares Life Science, LifeMind Therapeutics, and Vida Vinci, plus a public cafe, Triangle Coffee. The plan establishes three signage zones, two on the Technology Drive facade at roughly 45 feet above grade and one on Galen Street at roughly 25 feet, all within the building's 200-square-foot total sign allowance. Board member Abigail Hammett, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said she was concerned that multiple signs on the building's glass crown could "look like a mall" and cited the CarGurus building over the Mass Pike as a cautionary example of signage that "immediately cheapened the look" of a comparable structure. The board added one condition beyond those in the staff report: that color temperature of the lighting be consistent across all signs on the site.