Alexandria Aiming for 'Life-Sciences Central'

10996 Torreyana, a.k.a. the Alexandria at Torrey Pines, holds many amenities for local life-sciences and other business tenants.

SAN DIEGO—The Alexandria at Torrey Pines is already a state-of-the-art office space. Now it is aiming to have its amenities—including conference and event space, a full gym and a theater—used by its life-sciences neighbors. GlobeSt.com took an exclusive tour of the Torrey Pines-neighborhood facility. (See photos, courtesy of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. , below.) Dan Ryan , EVP—regional market director (San Diego) and strategic operations for Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. , owner and developer of the property, tells GlobeSt.com, “The workplace is changing—it’s much more sophisticated. Five-and-a-half years ago, when I started with this firm, we had this pioneering idea about lab buildings, and we were the only competitor in the space for a while. Then, the competitors came in.” Indeed, ARE is a strong player in this space, with a 4-million-square-foot portfolio in San Diego alone, mainly in the Torrey Pines Mesa submarket, home to most of the life-sciences firms in this market. “Being in the cluster is important,” says Ryan. He adds that the demand for this space is rising, and the firm owns product in seven domestic markets including Cambridge, MA; San Francisco and San Diego. Life-science and pharmaceutical tenants in its San Diego properties include Illumina (for which the Alexandria’s theater is named), LabCorp and Eli Lilly . As for the Alexandria itself, the building offers many wow-factor amenities for tenants and neighbors—which can be any company in the San Diego area. The property includes a full-service restaurant , Farmer & The Seahorse , that offers a contemporary American menu and full bar with indoor/outdoor seating; a fitness center that includes a full-court gymnasium, spin studio, yoga and reformer Pilates studio, cardio and weight-training equipment, personal and group training and competitive sports leagues and recreational social activities; high-tech meeting spaces with plentiful natural light including an 80-person boardroom and a 210-person theater with a deluxe speaker’s lounge; space for larger events including a 12,500 outdoor space, a 3,000-square-foot high-bay space that can be configured in a variety of ways depending on the function; and catering for meetings and events on site.

The Illumina theater is high tech and seats 210 comfortably.

Farmer & The Seahorse is a full-service restaurant for fine dining or quick meals.

Diners can sit outside on the Farmer & The Seahorse patio.  

The restaurant patio is lit up at night to add to the ambiance.

The fitness center hosts competitive sports leagues and recreational social activities throughout the year.