SoCal Is Dominating the Life Science Sector

Grant Schoneman

San Diego is known for its stellar life science market—and for good reason. It is a hub of for life science companies, and they drive tremendous office and industrial leasing activity. However, San Diego isn’t alone. Life Science activity is growing throughout Southern California. According to research from JLL, Los Angeles and Orange County life science companies generate $27.3 billion in economic activity and employ 122,000 people, making it a strong driver of job growth. In Orange County, the market has a 4.8% vacancy rate and only two plus-50,000-square-foot blocks of space available. In San Diego, the industry generates $33.6 billion in economic activity and has seen a 20% increase in employment in the last five years. With such high demand, the market has seen 2.7 million square feet of new lab product delivered since 2016 and a current pipeline of 363,000 square feet. To get a side-by-side look at how these markets stack up, we sat down with Grant Schoneman, managing director at JLL in San Diego, and Jason Lantgen, VP at JLL in Orange County, for an exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: Give me a snap shot of the life science activity in your market, and tell me what is fueling leasing activity.