Pre-application permits have been filed for a new life science development at 600 Bancroft Way in Southwest Berkeley, Alameda County. The waterfront property was sold to Invesco Real Estate in 2021 for $39.4 million. Burlingame-based Woodstock Development is the project applicant.
600 Bancroft Way entry, rendering by HGA
600 Bancroft Way overlooking the Aquatic Park pathway, rendering by HGA
600 Bancroft Way corner view, rendering by HGA
The 92-foot tall structure is expected to yield 400,520 square feet, including 247,250 square feet of lab space, 11,350 square feet of outdoor space, and 149,550 square feet across the five-level garage. Parking will be included for 512 cars. Bicycle parking is included, though the exact capacity is not specified. HGA is the architect, and Groundworks Offices is the landscape architect.
The pre-application for 600 Bancroft Way comes at an interesting period for the life sciences commercial real estate market. The market has long seen South San Francisco as leading, which remains true through 2024. While some development has occurred across Alameda County, Invesco’s next-door neighbor recently opened as the biggest life sciences complex in Berkeley. The Berkeley Commons project contains around half a million square feet or nearly a quarter of Berkeley’s existing life sciences inventory. The city also has a lab vacancy rate of around 43.2%, compared with the regional vacancy rate of 24.6%, according to data collected by Newmark. Across the Bay Area, there are around 42.2 million square feet of lab space, with an additional 4.6 million square feet in the construction pipeline.
600 Bancroft Way facade elevation, illustration by HGA
600 Bancroft Way site map, illustration by HGA
600 Bancroft Way, image via Google Satellite
Demolition will be required for the existing 47,800 square feet of office lab space. The 2.93-acre parcel is located across from the artificial lagoon in the public Aquatic Park. Its neighbor, Berkeley Commons, is the nearly complete life sciences project at 600 Addison Street, developed by Lane Partners and LB2 Partners.
Invesco Real Estate is an international real estate investor based in Atlanta with dozens of offices across the world. The property was previously sold to Thor Equities in 2018 for $17.5 million. The estimated cost and timeline for construction have yet to be shared.
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I guess that they beleave in climate change?
Yes they do Believe. This Project is designed Above and Beyond recommendations of the State Agency Sea-Level Rise Action Plan for California and FEMA base flood elevations.
Can these be used for another purpose? Although I am a live-and-let-live libertarian when it comes to other people lighting their money on fire, I do see the potential downsides of a million square feet of possibly vacant lab/r&d space at the edge of town. Do they convert easily to plain old offices?
Yes, Life Science projects like this are designed to be flexible hybrid office/lab buildings. Lab users have support office spaces up to %60 of the floor area. It could be utilized as %100 office [plain old offices] yet this would negate the performance that these buildings are engineered to for Lab type uses.