San Diego Is a Top Life Science Market in the Country

Life science is among the fastest growing real estate sectors in the country—and San Diego is one of the top five hubs for the industry. As a result, San Diego is flourishing, and in 2020, life science activity is expected to be one of the main drivers of market growth.

San Diego’s life science market is dynamic, all starting with a strong foundation. “San Diego has a proven foundation as a hotbed for scientific talent and innovation,” Greg Bisconti, executive director and national practice group leader or the life sciences advisory group at Cushman & Wakefield, tells GlobeSt.com. “It is widely regarded as the third largest life sciences hub in the country with a 20 million square foot life sciences inventory base and growing.”

Capital and innovation are essential to the strength of the life science industry. Currently, capital investment is at an all-time high, helping to drive innovation. “San Diego has a very broad cover of life sciences with its 50-plus years as a research hub- starting with Scripps and Salk, and growing to over a dozen research institutes and universities,” Bisconti says. “UCSD alone regularly pulls in over $1B per year in sponsored research and growing. As such, we have a deep pool of talent and a replenishing base of skilled researchers and innovators.”

Community interaction and a strong presence of trade groups are the final drivers of the market. “San Diego is a highly collaborative community that strives to support and help one another,” explains Bisconti. “We have a deep bench of accomplished entrepreneurs who “lean in” and ensure up and coming entrepreneurs have the tools and support they need to succeed. In short, it’s a warm and friendly place in which to grow a company.”

While there are several factors driving industry growth, biotech and pharma companies are driving leasing activity in San Diego. “San Diego is first and foremost a center for innovation, and biotech dominates our market from a tenant standpoint, but we also have major Pharma presence, including Pfizer, Lilly, Takeda, BMS/Celgene, and others,” Ted Jacobs, executive managing director at global life sciences practices group at Cushman & Wakefield, tells GlobeSt.com. “For 2019, genomics and personalized medicine have probably been the biggest drivers, and even those companies that are deemed drug discovery have a genomics component behind them.”

Cushman & Wakefield has represented several large leases this year, including companies Omniome, Mirati, Nitto Biopharma, Neogenomics and Synthetic Genomics, Cradle Genomics. Next year, the firm is already setting up for more of the same. “There are several more big transactions expected to close in coming months, and most have some tie to genomics,” says Jacobs. “Furthermore, notably Illumina occupies over 1 million square feet in San Diego and also continually spins off entrepreneurs and companies. That said, San Diego’s history for cures is broad and includes huge advances in oncology, CNS, metabolic, rare diseases, vaccines, etc, as well as synthetic biology for fuels, feed, and chemicals.”