On the tailwinds of record capital investment, the San Diego life science industry continues to produce significant growth. Tenants of all size ranges are expanding operations, some growing footprints by as much as 600 percent, says Grant Schoneman, JLL senior managing director.

In the first three quarters of 2021, total leasing activity has already surpassed the total leasing volume secured in all of 2020, which produced more than 2.2 million square feet of gross leasing and was a record year for the San Diego life science cluster, according to JLL research.

“The robust sector growth has pushed availability of existing lab space in the biotech cluster to the low single digits and produced a growing trend of life science companies leasing space outside of the historical biotech cluster,” says Schoneman. “Companies are moving into Del Mar Heights along the 56 Corridor and into Scripps Ranch. Further life science growth is anticipated to push into downtown San Diego, as developers currently have new lab space under construction that is scheduled to be completed in first quarter 2022.”