BentallGreenOak Buys San Diego Life Science Facility

2210 Faraday Ave., Carlsbad, Calif. Image courtesy of CommercialEdge.com

BentallGreenOak has acquired a 119,591-square-foot R&D and life science flex building in Carlsbad, Calif. Hill Cos. sold the asset for $35.8 million.

The property, which is part of the Faraday Research Center, last traded in 2015 and was previously subject to a $23.7 million loan in 2019, with a maturity date set for 2029, provided by Colony Capital, CommercialEdge data shows.

The two-story, Class B building originally built in 1997 as an industrial facility, was converted into office space in 2005 with a life science and R&D buildout. The property features 24-foot ceilings, dock and grade loading, heavy power, two passenger elevators, gated access and offers 478 parking spaces. The freestanding building is fully leased to three research and development and life science tenants, including Acutus Medical and Nemko.

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The property is located at 2210 Faraday Ave., 34 miles from San Diego and has access to Interstate 5. The facility is situated within the larger Carlsbad Research Center, surrounded by various corporate centers and life science facilities, including Navigate Biopharma, Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Genoptix Medical Laboratory, among others.

Executive Vice Chairman Aric Starck and Senior Associate Drew Dodds with Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller and Don Trapani provided leasing advisory.

San Diego among top life science markets

Significant growth in the life science sector is due to private capital funding over the last decade, according to a 2023 Cushman & Wakefield insight report. The total funding in 2022 totaled $35.8 billion, a 28 percent decrease from 2021. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the average deal size of $22.2 million was up 53 percent quarter-over-quarter and 12 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2021.

As to the major life science hubs, San Diego received 2.5 billion, a 7 percent share of U.S. funding, with the San Francisco Bay Area leading with 35 percent, a total of $12.6 billion.

A large San Diego transaction took place in the second half of 2022 in Carlsbad, Calif., when Oxford Properties Group acquired a 250,000-square-foot life science property, occupied by Ionis Pharmaceuticals. The company paid $258.4 million for the asset.

The partnership between Phase 3 Real Estate Partners Inc. and Bain Capital obtained $165 million in refinancing for Genesis Science Center, a 252,000-square-foot life science property in San Diego. The campus was slated for a 365,000-square-foot R&D building expansion.