SOMA District Welcomes First Biotech Firm

SAN FRANCISCO-San Francisco’s South of Market (SOMA) district has landed its first biotech company with the long-term lease agreement signed between Signature Bioscience and landlord SKS Investments. Signature will occupy approximately 65,000 sf of office space at 475 Brannan St., a 250,000-sf remodeled office building that was once home to several failed dot-com companies.

The biotech firm has signed a 10-year lease with SKS Investments at an undisclosed price. The deal was brokered by Equis Corporation.

Recent reports show that rents in the SOMA district have fallen to about $22 per sf. During the Internet boom, the same spaces in this area averaged about $65 per sf, with some properties pulling in up to $90 per sf.

Netcentives, a now-bankrupt Internet firm, previously occupied the space and sunk thousand of dollars into tenant improvements.

Signature plans to move into the space by the middle of next year after the space has been renovated to include a laboratory.