As one of the leading life science markets in the nation, office and lab space in San Diego continues to be highly coveted by investors. In a recent transaction, the Pacific Tech Center in Sorrento Mesa was acquired by BioMed Realty for $46.7 million, or approximately $688 per square foot. The property was sold by Montana Avenue Capital Partners, according to a San Diego third quarter office market report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Public records show that the office and lab building, located at 5717 Pacific Center Boulevard, reaches three floors and totals 67,832 square feet.
The life science building is located in a prime research location in San Diego, with several large corporate neighbors, including Qualcomm, TimeWarner Cable and Cardinal Health. The property also is within close proximity to Interstates 5 and 805, providing easy access throughout the rest of San Diego County.
The property was last acquired by Montana Avenue Capital Partners in 2018 for $19.49 million.
The new property owners are a leading life science investment company, with a portfolio spanning the U.S. and U.K., which includes properties in Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle and Cambridge, U.K. In its homebase of San Diego, BioMed owns and operates approximately 3.1 million square feet of commercial space with a wide variety of notable tenants. These include Illumina, U.C. San Diego School of Medicine, Abbott Laboratories, Thermo Fisher and The Salk Institute.
With locations in many major life science markets across the U.S., the company’s portfolio overall has grown to nearly $20 billion in value with approximately 14 million square feet of life science properties across the nation.
According to the report from Cushman & Wakefield, the life sciences sector has played a significant role in aiding the overall office market in San Diego. In the third quarter of the year, San Diego saw a positive net absorption of 264,601 square feet, which was primarily backed by large life science tenants, such as Altos Labs, Quantum-Si and ViaCyte, according to the report. Additionally, Sorrento Mesa recorded the most positive absorption of all of San Diego’s submarkets in the third quarter of 2021, at 134,700 square feet. Other primary life science hubs, like Del Mar Heights and Torrey Pines followed closely behind at 105,008 square feet and 92,900 square feet, respectively.
