Biotech booms in Foster City: BioMed Realty, Illumina strike major campus development deal

BioMed, which has sites in Redwood City, Brisbane, Newark and several in South San Francisco, will boast over 3.2 million square feet of space in the Bay Area thanks to the Illumina deal, said BioMed spokesman Jim Cullinan.

“When you’re looking for these types of build-to-suits, what we’ve noticed is there’s a couple of key things life science companies are looking for. One is the right amenities, their employees work long, hard hours trying to make these innovative products. … Whether it’s fitness, food and coffee or open air space,” Cullinan said. “That’s important to these companies. And secondly, especially in the Bay Area, it’s [to be] near easy transportation hubs.”

Centered between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Foster City is proving an attractive site for tech company headquarters like Visa Inc. and Gilead Sciences, another biotech currently expanding its campus.

BioMed purchased the site for $37 million after Life Technologies Corp. relocated from Foster City to another BioMed South San Francisco property in 2013 and resulted in the city losing nearly $1 million in tax revenue. BioMed has since leveled most of the site and proposed three, up to seven-story buildings, as well as a four-story building to house employee and visitor amenities, according to a city planning report.

Cullinan said the company is working with city officials to secure permits and hopes to break ground on three Class A office buildings this year. The terms of the lease aren’t being released, but the $149 million campus project is slated to open in 2017, Cullinan said.

The 15-year-lease between the two firms also includes an option for Illumina to take another 160,000 square feet. The potential 520,000-square-foot campus will provide Illumina the ability to condense most of its Bay Area offices currently spread between San Francisco, Redwood City, Hayward and Santa Clara.

“We also expect this campus will provide stronger ties with our customers and partners, while establishing a state-of-the-art work environment to retain and attract the most talented employees in our industry,” Illumina Chief Financial Officer Marc Stapley said in a press release.

Illumina develops, manufactures and markets genomic analysis products used for disease research, drug discovery and development of molecular tests. Rapidly making advancements in personalized medicine through DNA sequencing, Cullinan said Illumina and other biotechs are attracted to the Peninsula’s proximity to academic strongholds like Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley and the University of San Francisco.

Foster City representatives had the opportunity to sit down with BioMed and Illumina officials before the deal was finalized to help elaborate on what the city has to offer, said Councilman Herb Perez and Joanne Bohigian, president of the Foster City Chamber of Commerce.

He credited Bohigian and Councilman Charlie Bronitsky, who was mayor at the time, as vital to Foster City welcoming Illumina.

The new deal will also significantly contribute to the city’s tax revenue, which could be significant as it lost approximately $1 million annually after Life Technologies left, Perez said.

“Now Foster City is home to two of the biggest biotechs on the Peninsula arguably — Gilead and [Illumina]. This is just fantastic,” Perez said. “Cities need to do that more often. They need to sit down and talk to businesses and woo them to come. Because business has a lot of choices nowadays and this is a win-win for both the city and for the company.”

Bohigian said she’s thrilled BioMed and Illumina, which have astounding visions and core values, saw potential in the city.

“We truly couldn’t be more excited to have one of the biggest life sciences transactions ever in the San Francisco Bay Area take place here in Foster City. But more importantly, it’s about the company and what Illumina does,” Bohigian said. “These are the types of companies we want to call Foster City home because they’re making contributions to the greater community and they’re changing the industry.”

samantha@smdailyjournal.com

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