Wareham Development In the News

San Francisco Business Times - by Ryan Tate

Friday, October 26, 2007

East shore sites fill up with biotech, clean tech firms
Richmond, Alameda take up the slack as Emeryville tops out

With biotech space in Emeryville and Berkeley almost entirely leased up, life sciences companies are expected to begin looking to markets like Alameda and Richmond for more space.

Biotech companies are increasingly having to look for office space further and further from the University of California's Berkeley campus, the traditional hub of biotech in the East Bay.Class A office space in Emeryville is 92 percent occupied, with just 174,000 square feet of space available and lesser space tightening quickly, according to Colliers International.

A prime biotech office building in Emervyille, Rich Robbins' EmeryStation East, recently entered late-stage negotiations with the Joint BioEnergy Institute, a joint venture between the U.S. Department of Energy, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Stanford University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and others, according to a source close to the negotiations.

The Department of Energy approved in principle an approximately 70,000-square-foot lease at the life sciences-focused complex, whose shell was finished in July but which will not receive its first tenants until close to the end of the year.

Along with another 70,000-square-foot lease to biofuels company Amyris and 35,000 square feet to pharmaceutical firm Novartis, EmeryStation is close to 70 percent leased.

"We have an influx of money" into life sciences and clean tech, said Bill Nork of Cornish and Carey.

But there is a corresponding decline in the amount of space available for such firms. Nork declined to comment on anything related to the bioenergy institute, but said he expects to have EmeryStation East fully leased by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, existing offices in Emeryville are brim-full and the 1.2-square-mile city has limited room for growth. Neighboring Berkeley has limited development of new office and lab space. The city stalled an effort by Wareham to build an office building similar to EmeryStation East.

Brokers expect overflow space to push into Alameda, Richmond, Hercules, Pinole and other more distant parts of the East Bay, traditional strongholds for industrial uses that have already begun to give way to life sciences companies.

Testing equipment firm Bio-Rad, for example, is headquartered in Hercules; Genentech has been in Vacaville for 12 years; and Avigen is headquartered in Alameda.

"The Richmond, Hercules market is getting fed from Berkeley, Emeryville and Marin, so if there is a big push in Emeryville and there is no more space, we'll see it," said John Troughton, a director at Cushman and Wakefield.

Troughton identified scores of potential sites, including built and entitled space at Pinole Shores Business Park in Pinole, Venture Commerce Center in Hercules and the former Berlex facility in Richmond.

Then there are the Marina Bay and Harbor Bay developments in Alameda, which have attracted a mix of industrial, life sciences and food-related companies, including Peet's and Niman Ranch.

"Alameda or Richmond will get the overflow -- certainly not Berkeley," said Gary Fracchia, an industrial broker with BT Commercial.

Nork gave the edge to Alameda, where the office space tends to be less isolated and closer to other offices and amenities like restaurants.

rtate@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4968

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2007/10/29/focus4.html

 

About Wareham Development

Wareham Development is committed to the long-term economic and environmental vitality of the communities where we do business. During the planning process, we work closely with city and state agencies to ensure that each project provides maximum benefit to its surrounding community. And, unlike many developers who build projects only to sell them, we retain ownership of the majority of our developments, many of which have come to define the thriving technology corridor between the Bay and Richmond-San Rafael bridges.

The Wareham vision encompasses the spark and promise of small companies on the verge of growth, and large corporations whose fortunes span the globe. We are proud of our associations with all of our tenants, and feel deeply privileged to play a role in their success.