Genentech Planning Massive Redesign of Offices

Biotech giant Genentech is looking to give a pricey facelift to its massive headquarters.

The South San Francisco-based firm is planning a multiple-phase revamp of its campus in South San Francisco, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The first phase calls for 1 million square feet of labs estimated to cost $1.5 billion, while the total scale of the project is estimated to cost between $3 billion and $5 billion.

The project would dramatically reshape the 207-acre campus currently occupied by 8,000 employees. To make it happen, it would demolish obsolete structures and construct new buildings closer to the core of the headquarters next to the Bay.

Details around the plans remain light for the time being, according to the Business Times.

Genentech has been in the process of acquiring new parcels of property within its campus over the past two years. That includes the Dome Construction Corporation site at 393 East Grand Avenue, the former home of the San Francisco Baking Institute on DNA Way, and a structure on Point San Bruno Boulevard that once housed packaging manufacturer Lithotype Company.

Those grabs follow an agreement between Genentech and South San Francisco in 2020 that ensured the biotech firm wouldn’t be stopped in its expansion, allowing it to build up to 9 million square feet in the long term. Last month, the city agreed to add 18 acres to the Genentech campus master plan, per the Business Times.

“Gaining control and flexibility over the streets within the campus is a critical first step in allowing us to make the next bold moves to modernize our headquarters,” Sophie Martin, Genentech’s real estate strategy director, told the South San Francisco City Council on June 25. “While we’re very proud of having been here for so long, for better or for worse, it also means our buildings have been here for a really long time, and neither our core facilities nor the physical layout of our campus adequately support the type of science and technological advancements that are necessary to help us stay competitive and at the forefront of our industry.”

— Chris Malone Méndez