While there are several factors driving industry growth, biotech and pharma companies are driving leasing activity in San Diego. "San Diego is first and foremost a center for innovation, and biotech dominates our market from a tenant standpoint, but we also have major Pharma presence, including Pfizer, Lilly, Takeda, BMS/Celgene, and others," Ted Jacobs, executive managing director at global life sciences practices group at Cushman & Wakefield, tells GlobeSt.com. "For 2019, genomics and personalized medicine have probably been the biggest drivers, and even those companies that are deemed drug discovery have a genomics component behind them."

Cushman & Wakefield has represented several large leases this year, including companies Omniome, Mirati, Nitto Biopharma, Neogenomics and Synthetic Genomics, Cradle Genomics. Next year, the firm is already setting up for more of the same. "There are several more big transactions expected to close in coming months, and most have some tie to genomics," says Jacobs. "Furthermore, notably Illumina occupies over 1 million square feet in San Diego and also continually spins off entrepreneurs and companies. That said, San Diego's history for cures is broad and includes huge advances in oncology, CNS, metabolic, rare diseases, vaccines, etc, as well as synthetic biology for fuels, feed, and chemicals."