King Street and Helios plan Burlingame life science campus

A pair of developers are poised to build a 475,800-square-foot life science campus in Burlingame.

King Street Properties and Helios Real Estate won approval from the city’s Planning Commission to construct two office and research buildings at 1669 and 1699 Old Bayshore Highway and 810 and 821 Malcolm Road, the San Francisco Business Times reported. 

King Street, a major life science developer based in Boston, bought the four parcels in February for $45.2 million. It has partnered with Helios, based in San Francisco, to redevelop the site.

Four office, industrial and restaurant buildings totaling 100,510 square feet would be razed to make way for the speculative project.

Plans call for a north and south life science campus, with 60 percent for laboratories and 40 percent for offices.

The north campus would feature a seven-story, 193,400-square-foot building with surface parking.

The south campus would feature an eight-story, 282,400-square-foot building with a ground-floor cafe and meeting room, with an adjacent nine-level parking garage.

The project, designed by Perkins&Will of Chicago, would feature rooftop terraces and ground-floor plazas facing Malcolm Road.

The future life science complex, north of Highway 101 and just south of Old Bayshore Highway, would contribute a $690,000 “annual fund bump” and $9.5 million in impact fees to the city, according to Helios cofounder Peter Banzhaf.

The development team will also give $100,000 to the city for Bay Trail improvements.

“It’s not a small project — it’s something we are proud of and hope the city is, too,” Banzhaf told the Business Times.

Commissioner Sean Lowenthal said the project would “completely redefine the area.”

He praised its public benefits package, which includes a 100-person conference center open to the public, public plazas and public art, as well as off-site infrastructure improvements such as a crosswalk that connects it to the Bay Trail across Bayshore Highway.

The office sector across the San Francisco Peninsula has been doing well compared to Bay Area downtowns, which have struggled to bring back workers since the pandemic, according to research by brokerage Colliers.

The third quarter marked the sixth consecutive quarter of positive net absorption, expanding by 327,425 square feet, and the region’s vacancy rate was 8.6 percent, the lowest it has been since the dawn of the coronavirus in early 2020, according to Colliers.

Demand for R&D real estate also remained positive in the quarter, with 217,052 square feet of absorption.

— Dana Bartholomew

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