Breakthrough Properties has debuted Torrey View, a 520,000 square foot life sciences campus in San Diego’s Del Mar Heights neighborhood. The 10-acre, multi-building property is fully pre-listed.
The 520,000 square foot Torrey View campus is LEED Gold certified. Photo by Jason O’Rear, courtesy of Breakthrough Properties
Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture between Tishman Speyer and Belco Capital, acquired the site in October 2020 and developed it as a three-building research and development center with parking. This facility is LEED Gold certified.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s oncology division has leased 230,000 square feet in two Torrey View buildings. Becton Dickinson & Company, a global medical technology company, has established a 220,000 square foot center for bioscience research in its third building. Charles River Laboratories, Actio Biosciences and Architect Therapeutics are also tenants.
The buildings will range in floor space from 17,400 to 46,700 square feet and include fitness space, meeting areas, all-hands meeting facilities, and dining venues. The facility also features a park-like collaboration zone, pickleball courts, and surfboard and bicycle storage.
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Breakthrough developed TorryView in collaboration with co-investment partners Mitsui Fudosan America, Ontario Investment Management Corporation and AP2. The developer used life sciences architecture firm Flad Architects and general contractor Clark Construction. JLL handled the development and leasing.
Breakthrough is active in this space, with a portfolio of more than 5 million square feet of life sciences space under operation or in the development pipeline in the U.S. and Europe. The company is aiming to achieve LEED Gold certification for its facilities in the United States, as well as BREEAM Outstanding certification for all its projects in the United Kingdom and European Union.
The company’s portfolio in San Diego includes Torrey Plaza, Callan Ridge and Governor Point, a two-story life sciences campus nearing completion.
Other breakthrough assets include The 105, a fully leased facility for gene-editing company CRISPR Therapeutics, and One Milestone, two interconnected research buildings under development at Boston’s Enterprise Research Campus. It will be. The company’s research and development building, 2300 Market, in Philadelphia is nearing completion. Breakthrough’s fast-growing user-focused brand, StudioLabs, is launching in several new markets.
San Diego life sciences development remains hot
More than 4 million square feet of new life sciences development is underway in the San Diego metropolitan area, with a pre-release rate of 39 percent, according to Cushman & Wakefield data. The majority of inventory (approximately 64 percent) is spec space, with the remaining 36 percent being custom orders. Also underway in the area is a 241,500 square foot life sciences renovation of an existing building.
Cushman & Wakefield notes that landowners who acquired land during the recent peak in land prices for life sciences development remain eager to complete their projects. However, future development will slow as venture capital investment declines and banks are reluctant to originate development loans.
As of the second quarter of 2024, San Diego’s life science real estate vacancy rate was 16.3%, an increase of 350 basis points sequentially and 880 basis points year over year, Cushman & Wakefield reports. . Sublease vacancy rates increased 20 basis points from the first quarter and 110 basis points from the same period last year.
Still, San Diego County boasts a robust life sciences industry, employing more than 75,800 direct employees at more than 1,960 facilities in a variety of subsectors. The largest employment sector is biotechnology, followed by research and testing. Life sciences research and development, medical laboratories, and analytical equipment manufacturing all contributed to job creation in San Diego over the past year.
