Presidio Bay Ventures partnered with Kinship Capital to acquire a piece of property in the Northern California city to redevelop into a space for the life sciences industry.
California’s Bay Area has been one of the largest biotech hubs in the world, and as such, available space has become an issue for startups and smaller companies. A new life sciences development in San Carlos, California will provide some needed elbow room.
Presidio Bay Ventures partnered with Kinship Capital to acquire a piece of property in the Northern California city to redevelop into a space for the life sciences industry. According to Presidio Bay Ventures, a commercial real estate development firm, the property located at 777 Industrial Road will be redeveloped into a 123,000-square-foot Class A life sciences building with high-quality materials and cutting-edge functionality. San Carlos is home to companies like Alkahest, Paramune and ChemoCentryx, Inc.
K. Cyrus Sanandaji, the managing director for Presidio Bay Ventures, said the deal was prompted by a need for additional life sciences space in the Bay Area, which has been fueled by rapid investments into the research and development of pharma companies during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Other life sciences-based real estate investments made in San Carlos over the past few years also highlighted the existing need for space, he said.
“In particular, San Carlos has garnered momentum in the space in recent years with its East Side Innovation District Plan and several new or under development biotech campuses,” Sanandaji said in a statement. “With 777 Industrial Road, we’re proud to continue expanding our investments in the life sciences sector and join its burgeoning community in San Carlos. As our first investment in San Carlos, we look forward to building a long standing relationship with the City’s planning and building departments as well as the broader community.”
Last year, Alexandria Real Estate Equities announced plans to transform a property in San Carlos that includes the former corporate headquarters of Kelly-Moore Paints into a 1.6 million-square-foot biotech campus. That location was in addition to another project Alexandria Real Estate Equities had already initiated in San Carlos. The previous space being developed by Alexandria was expected to provide more than 500,000 square feet of office space in San Carlos.
The property acquired by Presidio Bay Ventures and Kinship Capital will certainly not be available for use for some time. The site had been home to a 45,000 square foot car dealership, with adjacent parking lots for the dealership’s inventory. However, Presidio said the location has a “robustly engineered existing infrastructure,” which has been designed to withstand significant loads. Construction is expected to begin in 2021.
Presidio plans to transform the dealership and surrounding property into a life sciences campus that includes a three-story building built over a parking deck. Presidio said the project will blend with the designs of existing life sciences campuses in the San Carlos area.
“The reuse and repurposing of both the existing podium and previously installed solar photovoltaic cells will result in a development that is both economical and environmentally sustainable,” Presidio said in its announcement.
