Amgen Opens 245 KSF Home in South San Francisco

750 Gateway Blvd. Image courtesy of Amgen

Amgen recently opened a new research and development facility at the 2.2 million-square-foot Gateway of Pacific life science campus in South San Francisco.

The biopharmaceutical giant signed a long-term lease with BioMed Realty, owner and developer of Gateway of Pacific, in 2019 to be the sole occupant of a brand-new, 245,000-square-foot laboratory and office building.

BioMed delivered Amgen’s new home, 750 Gateway Blvd., in early 2022 as part of Phase II of the 23-acre Gateway of Pacific development. According to information posted on the website of construction consultancy Nova Partners, which managed Amgen’s tenant improvements, the nine-story tower was developed at a price of approximately of $158 million. The Flad Architects-designed building, linked via a common-space atrium to another new office/lab structure, is a state-of-the-art facility with modular labs and open workspaces conceived to promote collaboration. The new building is also Amgen’s second-largest R&D facility in the world.

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The central feature of Amgen’s new glass-clad home, however, is its sustainability. 750 Gateway incorporates such elements as green living walls and sustainable materials in its flooring. The tower boasts LEED and Fitwel certifications and is in the process of applying for TRUE and WELL certifications. Another feather in 750 Gateway’s environmental cap is its designation as a pilot site for MyGreenLabs certification.

The new Amgen San Francisco location, Saptarsi Haldar, vice president, said in a prepared statement, is the “perfect combination of technology and biotech innovation, making Amgen an attractive place for local scientific professionals.” In addition to the modern workspace accommodations, Amgen’s roughly 600 employees will also have access to an array of amenities available at Gateway of Pacific’s campus, including the 47,000-square-foot Traverse center, which encompasses restaurants, a health facility and meeting and event space.

Premier space remains a priority

Headquartered in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Amgen has had R&D operations in the San Francisco Bay Area for roughly two decades. At the time of Amgen’s lease agreement with BioMed for 750 Gateway three years ago, the company was leasing a total of approximately 684,000 square feet at Healthpeak Properties’ Britannia Oyster Point campus. However, in 2022, Amgen exercised its option to terminate its lease at Britannia Oyster Point’s 1100 and 1120 Veterans Blvd., which total approximately 190,000 square feet. The company’s lease of the 68,000-square-foot 1140 Veterans Blvd. at Britannia Oyster Point is due to expire in December 2022.

With Amgen’s departure and other tenant vacancies, Healthpeak is taking the opportunity to upgrade the 10-building campus. “We’re redeveloping six buildings in order to capture optimal rents, resulting in near-term drag but will be significantly accretive upon stabilization in 2025,” Healthpeak noted in its June 2022 investor presentation.

While the pursuit of higher rents may be the priority for life science property owners, the bid to attract and retain talent remains a key focus for life science tenants, who dangle cutting-edge workspace as a carrot.

“Competition for talent in an overall very tight labor market has heated up in the life sciences sector with postings for life sciences jobs at currently double the pre-pandemic levels,” according to an October life science report by Cushman & Wakefield. “In the U.S., year-to-date through August 2022, there have been a total of 413,120 life sciences occupation postings, a 28 percent increase from the same period last year.”