Gemdale USA Secures 500K-SF Lease with Neurocrine Biosciences
The biopharmaceutical company will relocate its headquarters to Aperture Del Mar in San Diego.
Gemdale USA Corp. has secured a 535,000-square-foot lease with biopharmaceutical company Neurocrine Biosciences at Aperture Del Mar in San Diego. Neurocrine will relocate its headquarters office to the property in 2023.
Neurocrine is one of San Diego’s largest life science companies. Aperture was an ideal site to accommodate the company’s headquarters. At the property, Neurocrine will be able to double its lab space, occupying four buildings with an option to expand into a fifth building which can offer up to another 125,000 square feet.
Aperture Del Mar is located on 15.72 acres in Del Mar Heights. Gemdale USA Corp. acquired the property from Lincoln Property Company in October 2019, and began developing the site within a month. Phase 1, which Neurocrine will occupy, was built on spec and completed in 2019. According to Gemdale USA’s managing director of development Josh Goldman, the lease illustrates the strength of the life science sector in San Diego. JLL’s Chad Urie and Grant Schoneman represented Neurocrine Biosciences, while Tony Russell of JLL represented Gemdale USA Corporation in the deal.
San Diego is a key life science market in the country, and often considered in the top three alongside the Bay Area and Boston. In 2021, the San Diego life science market had a record year. The market sector recorded 34% rent growth and more than 1 million square feet of leasing activity in both the third and fourth quarter, according to the fourth quarter report from JLL. In 2021, there were 139 life science leases completed in the San Diego market, representing a total of four million square feet, a 51% increase in transactions and an 80% increase in square footage from 2020.
In the fourth quarter alone, life science companies in the market leased 1.2 million square feet of space, helping to push the vacancy rate to 3.1%, a record low for the market and a 40 basis point decrease from the third quarter and a 240 basis point decline from the same time last year. Direct availability is 2.4% while sublease availability ended the quarter at 0.7%.