The site of the Golden Gate Produce Terminal in South San Francisco is slated to become a life sciences complex, though developer SteelWave still has some hurdles to clear.
The San Mateo-based firm won approval from the city Planning Commission on a 12-year development agreement to redevelop the Golden Gate Produce Terminal into a 2.5 million-square-foot, five-building life sciences campus, the San Francisco Business Times reported.
With SteelWave’s approval secured, the famous Golden Gate Produce Terminal will have to consider a major relocation for a second time in its history. It left its former home in San Francisco’s Embarcadero during the area’s redevelopment in the 1960s, ending up in South San Francisco in 1969. The Golden Gate property is one of the largest and busiest produce terminals across Northern California, providing restaurants, retailers and members of the public access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
South San Francisco has gained a reputation as one of the country’s top life sciences hubs. But the past four years in the biotech industry have faced a cut in funding from investors and venture capital firms as well as a glut of millions of square feet of new space coming online. That has sent Bay Area life sciences vacancy rates higher than 25 percent, according to the Business Times.
Once a project is approved, developers usually have two to three years to secure permits and start construction, according to the Business Times. When SteelWave decides to dig shovels in the ground remains to be seen, but the Produce Terminal can remain in operation until then.
SteelWave leased the 17.6-acre produce terminal site at 131 Terminal Court in 2022. SteelWave bought another 8.7-acre site at 101 Terminal Court for $85 million. Its planned biotech projects are known as Infinite 101 and Infinite 131. The Infinite 101 site is set aside for life sciences and won city approval in 2023 for 700,000 square feet. If the City Council approves the development agreement, it would essentially extend the timeline for development of Infinite 101 and provide development approvals for Infinite 131 with another roughly 1.7 million square feet.
At the same time, the City of South San Francisco is considering rezoning five adjacent parcels along Produce Avenue and Terminal Court to allow for “business technology,” according to the Business Times.
Two other biotech projects in South San Francisco — IQHQ’s development at 800 Dubuque Avenue and Steelwave’s project at 180 El Camino Real — are looking to extend development rights in the hope that the biotech market will bounce back.