Life Science Campus Coming to West Berkeley

SteelWave, a San Mateo-based development company, has proposed a life science campus that stretches across two city blocks in West Berkeley, according to public records. The project confirms developers’ recent interest in capitalizing on the boom of the life science market post pandemic.

SteelWave would renovate three buildings on the 2200 block of 5th Street, between Bancroft Way and Allston Way. If the project – called theLAB – gets approved and completed, by early 2024 nearly 600 employees could work at the campus that covers more than 3 acres. The project is estimated to cost nearly $241 million.

“theLAB Berkeley is centrally located in Berkeley, California, a hub for both scientific and technological development,” the developer said on the project’s website.

The life science campus will join the trend of providing amenities that employees say they’re looking for after the pandemic. Nearly 80 percent of new leasing of commercial space in the Bay Area has involved Class A properties with a priority of providing employees with amenities, according to a report by brokerage Avison and Young. TheLAB will include a fitness center, amphitheater, outdoor recreation areas and a patio.

With the combination of the Bay Area lagging the rest of the country in returning to the office and life science employees being more likely to have to perform their work in person, the life science sector has experienced a boom since the pandemic. The Bay Area has 34 million square feet of life science space, considered the largest market for such inventory compared with 10 other U.S. markets, according to a Colliers report.

Multiple developers have announced decisions to build life science space in the Bay Area this year. B3 Commercial Management and GAWCapital Partners purchased the Bayfield Center Mall in San Leandro in July and plans to convert it into a 816,771 life science campus.

San Diego-based IQHQ recently purchased a 263,000-square-foot office building in Redwood City and plans to redevelop it into another 634,000-square-foot campus.

Finally, Presidio Bay Ventures has started construction on a 147,000-square-foot project in San Carlos earlier this year and wants to build a 410,000-square-foot life science complex elsewhere in the city.