San Diego Life Science Project Lands $203M

Image by Michal Jarmoluk, courtesy of Pixabay.com

Square Mile Capital Management and Bank OZK have provided $202.6 million in construction financing for Bioterra, a 316,000-square-foot life science project in San Diego. Longfellow Real Estate Partners is the developer and the project is slated for completion in the third quarter of 2024.

Senior Managing Director Aldon Cole and Managing Director Patrick Burger of JLL Capital Markets arranged the financing.

Square Mile Capital Management Director Tom Burns underlined, in prepared remarks, the need for purpose-built lab facilities in life science markets, with Bioterra fitting that goal.

In a recent interview for Commercial Property Executive, Managing Director Michael Lavipour with Square Mile mentioned that, apart from new developments, there’s also a focus on converting office to life science lab space, which is a faster method than ground-up building.

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Square Mile is also active across other large life science markets in the U.S. In July, an affiliate provided a $192.5 million loan for the development of 100 Chestnut, a 208,616-square-foot project in Somerville, Mass. Square Mile also provided a $155 million loan for the conversion to lab use of an office building in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York City.

A state-of-the-art life science campus

Bioterra broke ground in August this year. The six-story campus will encompass lab and office spaces, as well as a three-story subterranean parking facility. The property, designed to reach LEED Gold certification, is set to be an all-electric HVAC life science building. Amenities will include conference rooms, a fitness center, a coffee bar and a full-service restaurant and café.

The property will rise at the intersection of Oberlin Drive and Mira Mesa Boulevard, in the Sorrento Mesa submarket, 15 miles from central San Diego, close to interstates 5 and 805. The development site is within walking distance of Mesa Biotech, 4.4 miles from Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and 4 miles from the University of California San Diego.

A recent Cushman & Wakefield report shows that San Diego remained the second-largest market, after Boston, when it comes to developing life science facilities, with a pipeline of 3.7 million square feet.