Prince Street Gets OK for Life Science Labs in Redwood City

Prince Street Partners has gained approval to build a nearly 200,000-square-foot life sciences building in Redwood City.

The Menlo Park-based developer led by Chase Rapp and Brady Fuerst received the go-ahead from the city’s Planning Commission to construct the five-story building at 1 and 3 Twin Dolphin Drive, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.

The project, dubbed 1 Twin Dolphin Drive, will replace two low-slung office buildings and a parking lot in Redwood Shores, an office district where Oracle once had its headquarters.

Plans call for a 197,500-square-foot building on a 7-acre site that Prince Street bought last year for $82.8 million. Nearly an acre will be set aside as open space.

The white and pale gray development, designed by Brick, features floor-to-ceiling windows atop a two-story parking garage for 700 cars, according to a rendering. The extended garage contains a rooftop plaza.

Rob Zirkle, a founding principal at Oakland-based Brick, told planning commissioners the building just east of Highway 101 was designed to house one or two life science tenants.

He said it would make a good home for companies researching cell- or gene-based disease treatments, or doing research on new kinds of batteries. But it wasn’t designed for companies dealing with massive quantities of chemicals or pollutants, he said.

Because there are no restaurants within walking distance, Prince Street has committed to drawing food trucks to Lagoon Drive around the property, according to the Business Journal.

The project is among four life science developments underway in Redwood Shores.

Dallas-based Trammell Crow broke ground in July on a 234,000-square-foot building at 200 Twin Dolphin Drive.

Last year, San Diego-based IQHQ proposed building three five-story office and lab buildings containing 645,000 square feet at a former Oracle site at 10 and 12 Twin Dolphin Drive.

Boston-based Longfellow Real Estate Partners plans to replace 20 older office buildings on Bridge Parkway with a 90-acre campus containing 3.1 million square feet of office and research labs, a 104-room hotel and a 46,000-square-foot conference center.

Over the past year, the vacancy rate for life science buildings on the Peninsula south of South San Francisco jumped to 27.8 percent, from 18.8 percent, according to CBRE.

While the Planning Commission gave the nod to 1 Twin Dolphin Drive, one commissioner raised an eyebrow about whether the public spaces would draw local residents.

“I’m going to be honest,” Commissioner Isabella Chu said at the hearing. “I don’t know if a lot of people are going to want to hang out at a building set back near a busy road.”

— Dana Bartholomew