Life sciences developer Alexandria Authentic Estate Equities Inc. is relocating ahead with programs to extend its Gateway Campus in South San Francisco to meet rising desire for lab place.
The South San Francisco Preparing Commission approved a proposal for a new 7-story, 215K SF office environment and R&D setting up at 751 Gateway Blvd. east of Freeway 101 on Jan. 21. The venture would yield somewhere around 208K SF of lab and business area.
Primarily based on the city’s zoning code flooring area ratio for the campus, Alexandria is permitted to redevelop a horseshoe-shaped parking good deal for the new making, according to South San Francisco Senior Planner Adena Friedman.
“The idea is to seriously create a central hub inside of the Gateway Campus to type of fill in that horseshoe area right here, and seriously hook up all the buildings collectively and produce open area and pedestrian connections in the campus, join the current setting up, and focus on bettering and activating the frontage alongside Gateway Boulevard,” Friedman stated at the conference.
Setting up Commissioners posed concerns at the meeting to the growth workforce concerning leasing action for the creating provided the existing economic weather and with a lot of individuals functioning remotely.
In accordance to a Q4 2020 Bay Space Lifetime Science Report from Cushman & Wakefield, Northern San Mateo County, which contains South Metropolis, experienced a vacancy rate of 6.5% and web absorption of 29K SF, up from 12K SF in the preceding quarter. This is potent in comparison to the 2020 12 months-to-date everyday living sciences internet absorption for the Bay Area as a full, which was -709K SF with vacancy at 10.9%.
A January 2021 report from Zumper showed that South San Francisco was a single of the few Bay Place cities with condominium hire advancement. Identified as one particular of the region’s biotech hubs, the city’s relatively flourishing existence sciences sector may possibly be contributing to more robust hire demand though many Bay Space tech workers have been fleeing to other markets.
Alexandria Government Vice President Terezia Nemeth said that whilst the setting up is not pre-leased, the undertaking is transferring forward since of demand, as demonstrated by a identical close by endeavor by the enterprise at 201 Haskins Way that is 100% leased with development not still total.
“The existence science current market continues to be powerful,” Nemeth said at the meeting. “It is not an business office. You truly simply cannot do study in your kitchen it just doesn’t get the job done that way.”
Nemeth extra that quite a few tenants of Alexandria homes have been working on coronavirus vaccines, therapies and remedies.
“We have to have to preserve bringing product or service to sector due to the fact there is evidently demand from customers,” Nemeth reported.
The options call for outside seating, plazas and landscaped locations that will connect the other campus buildings at 701, 901, 951 and 801 Gateway Blvd. The building’s design and style is marked by a facade treatment with multicolor glass and products forming a DNA sample, which will make it stand out along Gateway Boulevard, in accordance to Alexandria Vice President of Progress and Style and design Toon Jordan.
“We emphasis on out of doors collaboration space and intended the landscape so that it is suitable for strolling meetings and encouraging our setting up occupants to interact outside and mingle and collaborate,” Jordan stated at the conference.
Element of the proposal integrated presenting 418 parking areas, which is considerably less than the city’s necessities. Planners supported the parking reduction because of to the project’s proximity to the South San Francisco Caltrain station, as nicely as what Friedman referred to as the project’s robust Transportation Demand System. The location close to the Gateway Campus has been plagued by superior stages of targeted traffic congestion in new a long time.
“Over the past numerous several years, the Alexandria real estate initiatives through east of 101 have proven fantastic achievements and partnership with applying their TDM designs,” Friedman explained, including that the company has in some instances exceeded necessities to change commuters absent from personalized autos to other modes.
