Is There Room to Develop Life Sciences in SD?

Schoneman: “During the past 18 months, there has been more than 800,000 square feet of office buildings in UTC that have been purchased and have either been converted or are currently being converted into lab space.”

SAN DIEGO—There is approximately 250,000 square feet of raw land on Torrey Pines Mesa that could accommodate future ground-up development of life-science buildings in that hub, Grant Schoneman, an SVP in JLL’s life-sciences group, tells GlobeSt.com. According to a recent report from the firm, total availability of life-sciences space in San Diego ended the second quarter at 11.5%, a 30-basis-point increase from the end of the first quarter attributed to four new subleases that were brought to the market that together totaled 117,000 square feet. This new availability was the main driver to the second quarter recording -68,000 square feet of net absorption; however, some of this new sublease space is already seeing interest from prospects.

We spoke with Schoneman exclusively about the latest changes in the life-sciences sector here and where development is likely to take place in this market.