San Carlos’ planning commission unanimously approved a 190,000-square-foot life science project on the city’s east side, an area flashing potential to become a new cluster for the segment in what’s historically been a low-slung industrial zone.
The three-story project by Prince Street Partners and Premia Capital would redevelop a 2.2-acre industrial site on the southern side of Howard Avenue between Old County Road and Bayport Avenue. The pair of developers plan to raze three single-story warehouses that total about 44,000 square feet and come with surface parking lots. Taking their place would be a U-shaped building organized around a public plaza and courtyard, above two levels of underground parking with 425 spaces for cars. Almost all of the project’s rentable area — about 185,500 square feet — is office and research space, with the rest set aside for a cafe and retail.
A rendering of the 1021 Howard project (brick.)
Prince Street and Premia plan to start construction in May and are prepared to build “on spec,” meaning without any tenants signed onto the project, Michael Halow, Premia’s owner, wrote in an email. The joint venture acquired the Howard Avenue site for $33 million in July 2021, title service records show. It submitted its first set of project plans to the city in October.
The outcome of Monday’s planning commission meeting is another step forward for San Carlos’ life science development pipeline, which has become one of the Peninsula’s busiest in recent years. While only a handful of life science projects have been built in the city during that time, at least seven on its east side alone were under city review, approved or under construction as of October. Local developers Presidio Bay Ventures and Minkoff Group have since filed plans to add more than 1 million square feet of new research and development space to the city’s northeast area between them.
The brick.-designed Howard Avenue project is Prince Street and Premia’s second in San Carlos, following a 173,000-square-foot life science complex that’s now under construction half a mile away. The venture acquired the 1.6-acre project site at 1091 Industrial Road in March 2021 for $43.5 million, the same month it broke ground, according to title service records and real-estate news site The Registry. A few months later, it sold a 95-percent stake in the property to the Florida State Board of Administration, a public pension fund, for $177 million, four times the previous sale price. The project is slated for completion in the third quarter of 2023 and is fully available for lease.
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