"Shockwave was locked into a short-term sublease that couldn't sustain its growth or its technical requirements," said Klein. "But like many R&D companies, a move would have presented a major disruption to its business. In restructuring and expanding its lease, we were able to secure excellent growth opportunity and financial benefits for Shockwave with minimal business interruption."

Klein is a core member of Transwestern's life science team in Northern California. This transaction earned SIOR Northern California chapter's top R&D/Flex deal of the year for three years in a row.

The San Francisco Bay Area biotech/life sciences market began 2019 solidly, but investors and tenants may see a flattening of the market leading into 2020, according to a recent Transwestern report. Leasing velocity is down, while in-place lab vacancy increased due to delivery of new product that was not fully leased. Venture capital funding also had a slow start to 2019 with just $2 billion in total capital invested (45.8% decrease), while National Institutes of Health grants for Bay Area research made up just 37.7% of the total grant dollars coming into California (330 bps below 2018). Mid-size biotech/life science companies have options for availability throughout the region, while small companies still struggle to find quality existing lab improvements in a competitive market.

"In today's constrained Silicon Valley market, the challenge that growing firms face is securing flexible, contiguous expansion space without a corresponding rent premium. Transwestern was successful in accomplishing this objective," Klein tells GlobeSt.com.