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Around this time three years ago, while most of us navigated pandemic life, real estate developers across Greater Boston looked to life-science laboratories, and saw dollar signs.

The white-collar office workers who’d long filled downtown towers were largely staying home (unless they worked in commercial real estate). The future of cities had rarely been murkier.

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But many biotech companies, like Cambridge’s Moderna, were busier than ever, and growing fast. Life-science companies, and the lab buildings that house them, looked like a sure bet for investors. Money poured in to drug companies by the billions — from venture capitalists, the stock market, the National Institutes of Health. And big real estate investors followed, launching a wave of speculative lab development all over Greater Boston.

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