Ideaya Biosciences to Move HQ to Revamped Complex in South SF

A $164.5-million purchase by DivcoWest of a 140,000-square-foot former office building in South San Francisco last year has paid off with a major life sciences lease.

South San Francisco-based Ideaya Biosciences is moving its headquarters across town to take up 44,000 square feet at the redeveloped labs at 5000 Shoreline Court, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The eight-year-old precision medicine startup is expected to relocate next year from its 30,000-square-foot hub at 7000 Shoreline, less than a block away, according to regulatory filings. The firm focuses on cancer treatments.

Its initial lease term runs through 2034. Base rent will cost $3.7 million a year, which works out to just less than $7 a square foot per month. That’s below the average $7.67 per foot for the area, according to CBRE.

The vacancy rate in the market jumped from 4.7 percent in the first quarter of 2022 to 9.8 percent this year, reflecting a slowdown in leasing activity.

Ideaya Biosciences is the first tenant at 5000 Shoreline, a spokesperson for DivcoWest told the Business Times.

In January 2022, the San Francisco-based developer bought the three-story vacant office building with plans to convert it into a life science complex, in what was then a hot market.

The waterfront building, which stands on 8.6 acres, was among the few left in South San Francisco suitable for conversion into research suites and labs. The revamp aims to draw life science, biotech or pharmaceutical firms to the property.

The developer now plans to complete a trio of speculative suites, to contain 10,000, 13,000 and 20,000 square feet, early next year.

DivcoWest, a private multidisciplinary investment firm based in The East Cut district of San Francisco, has seven offices nationwide, including Cambridge, New York, Los Angeles, Menlo Park, Austin and Washington, D.C.

The firm, founded in 1993 with a focus on tech and life sciences, has 19 million square feet and $17.7 billion in assets under management, according to its website.

In April, DivcoWest pondered whether to turn a historic office building in Downtown San Francisco into apartments, co-living residential units or a hotel.

— Dana Bartholomew