Bay Area Life Sciences Conversion Rate Jumps 266%

In a new report from CBRE, the San Francisco Bay Area saw a 266% year-over-year jump in office-to-lab conversions in the first quarter of 2022, ranking it number 2 in life sciences conversions in the U.S. Lab vacancy dropped below 6% in many regions, including the Peninsula, which had a paltry 3.6% available space.

“The exponential growth of life science companies in the Bay Area has forced tenants to look for space in new regions of the market,” said CBRE’s Mike Moran in a news release. “We’re seeing more companies pre-lease in areas like San Francisco, the East Bay and Silicon Valley that have more space to build or convert.”

The Bay Area saw 335,000 square feet of new life sciences space delivered at the end of Q1, with an additional 3.4 million square feet of construction and conversions underway. While the price of office-to-lab conversions can be triple that of a standard refit, CBRE says in the current climate, developers and investors are willing to cover those costs.