Huge biotech campus in works for Burlingame Bayfront

“We are going to convert this collection of derelict buildings and parking lots into a hub for life science innovation,” said Virginia Calkins, a senior development manager for DivcoWest, the developer overseeing the project.

The proposal is among the first to embrace the city’s new requirements designed to address projected sea level rise. Around the campus’ eastern perimeter a berm designed to withstand potential flooding over the next century or more would be built up to 17 feet above the current sea level, 7 feet above the lot’s elevation. The berm is planned to connect with similar infrastructure to be constructed by nearby developers and eventually the county to protect the entire Peninsula.

The project would also connect a missing quarter-mile portion of the Bay trail, and include a restored tidal wetlands area along the creek with a public plaza envisioned as capable of hosting food trucks, art shows or other events. The southern building will house a restaurant on the ground floor, overlooking a park area with an amphitheater near the intersection of Airport Boulevard and Bayshore Highway.

“It’s really going to transform our Bayfront,” said Councilmember Ann O’Brien Keighran. “There’s just so many amenities that are going to be offered to our residents here in Burlingame and outside of Burlingame.”

Calkins said she hoped to begin construction next summer. Plans will next go before the Planning Commission for entitlements, and are currently beginning the environmental review process.

The city has received applications for at least three other life science geared campuses nearby, each of which is sub 500,000 square feet. Burlingame in recent years began wooing such developments to the area, which was previously designated largely for hotels. Prior to the pandemic the city’s largest revenue source came from its hotel tax, which plummeted when travel fell.

“It’s in a growing sub-market, and we’re going to be the largest project within this Peninsula sub-market,” Calkins said of biotech in the city. DivcoWest paid a total of $108 million for the 13 parcels that make up the project site, according to the San Francisco Business Times.

According to DivcoWest’s estimations, the development would contribute more than $3 million annually to the city in taxes. A one-time payment of $54 million to the city would also be part of the agreement, to go largely to affordable housing, in addition to public facilities. The levee was estimated to cost $20 million to construct.

Community Development Director Kevin Gardiner said the proposal could serve as a model for what the city was seeking for the Bayfront.

“This is a much larger project than any other we’re looking at so the scale’s a little different, but certainly the approach is replicable,” he said. He noted that because of changes in the city’s general plan in recent years, the area would continue to see larger buildings proposed. “This is a paradigm shift in terms of the types of developments we’ve had in the Bayfront in the past.”

The three buildings will be more than 200 feet tall, nearly double the height of the nearby Hyatt hotel and adjacent One Bay Plaza building. One of the proposed biotech structures down the street at 777 Airport Blvd. would top out at 226 feet tall.

The development would replace a Holiday Inn, deli-style restaurant Max’s of Burlingame, restaurant and nightclub Caribbean Gardens, Se Come Asi Taqueria and multiple office buildings and large surface-level parking lots.

corey@smdailyjournal.com

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