Biopharma Firm Inks 28,000-SF Office Lease

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO-Tercica Inc. is relocating its headquarters to larger digs. The locally based biopharmaceutical firm has signed a six-year lease for 28,278-sf in 2000 Sierra Point Parkway, a 218,000-sf building recently acquired by Palo Alto-based Divco West Properties.The lease is for the third and fourth floors of the 12-story class A office tower. The firm plans to move to the space in June from about 18,000 sf in 651 Gateway, a South San Francisco building owned by Boston Properties. One of Tercica’s brokers in the transaction, Dino Perazzo of CB Richard Ellis tells GlobeSt.com that 651 Gateway did not have the contiguous space to accommodate the company’s growth.Divco West purchased the building, known locally as the Hitachi Building, in January 2005 on behalf of its $290-million real estate investment fund, Page Mill Properties LP. Acquired for just under $30 million, the property was 53% occupied at the time of sale. The Tercica lease pushes occupancy past 65%.CBRE’s Chris Jacobs assisted Perazzo on the lessee side of the transaction. Mike Moran and Kevin Waldman of BT Commercial represented Divco. Perazzo declined to comment on the specifics of the lease agreement. A source familiar with the transaction but not directly involved tells GlobeSt.com the deal included above-standard tenant improvements and several months of free rent.Tercica focuses on the development and commercialization of products for endocrine system disorders, including short stature and associated metabolic disease. In 2002, the firm obtained a license from Genentech Inc. to develop, manufacture and commercialize products derived from recombinant human Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (rhIGF-1), a hormone with numerous applications for treatment of short stature and other metabolic disorders.The anchor tenant at 2000 Sierra Point Parkway is Hitachi America Ltd., which used to own the building and still houses several of its divisions in about 60,000 sf there. Completed in 1988, the building has nine other tenants.