National MarketingTranswestern has been active in the life sciences sector for years and is doubling down on its efforts to capitalize on the enormous opportunities across the country. Mark Stratz, SVP and Phoenix City Leader, is helping to drive this initiative.
From a real estate perspective, why is the life sciences sector unique?
Life sciences real estate is at the intersection of office and healthcare and often requires a combination of office, collaboration and laboratory spaces. Given the testing and transportation of various biohazardous materials that takes place, this type of real estate requires more robust HVAC and MEP systems than traditional office.
While life sciences have obvious connections to healthcare, their real estate needs are very different. Healthcare is more patient-facing while life sciences is research-driven. Additionally, life sciences companies prefer to operate around similar firms to feed off their research, and to share human capital. Afterall, there is a reason that San Diego, South San Francisco and Cambridge remain the behemoth submarkets – human capital.
From a property management standpoint, users of life sciences real estate desire a curated workplace experience. A career in life sciences can be demanding, oftentimes requiring long hours, and as such, tenants want amenities geared toward health and wellness, culture and community.
What are some of Transwestern’s qualifications or success stories?
Transwestern’s life sciences endeavors, bolstered by the firm’s integrated platform and healthcare expertise, are led by experts who understand both real estate and the science behind innovation. Our resume includes work for owners, developers and occupiers through landlord and tenant representation, as well as through our property management expertise. The firm’s clients include many leaders in the sector, including BioMed Realty, Jadian Capital, Advanced Clinical, Chesnut Properties and Marker Therapeutics.
Some examples:
- In Scottsdale, Arizona, Transwestern is charged with leasing Ilume Innovation Center, a 372,000-square-foot office to life sciences conversion.
- In San Francisco, David Klein leads Tenant Advisory services for San Jose BioCube, another office conversion targeted toward young life sciences companies.
- Recently, Transwestern’s Clark Dean arranged a 200,000-square-foot lease for The Center for Global Health Innovation in Atlanta.
- The Mid-Atlantic will soon announce its involvement in a spec life sciences development.
- Transwestern’s Blake Peterson oversees property management for Genesis South San Francisco, a three-building, 715,000-square-foot life sciences campus.
- TDC provides development services for Houston’s TMC3 Campus, slated to deliver in 2023.
How are we approaching business development in this space?
We are steadfast on building relationships with life sciences incubators and venture capitalists.
Incubators, such as San Jose BioCube and the TMC John P. McGovern Campus in Houston, are where many startups go to hatch their ideas. Understandably, young companies are so ingrained in the science that they require additional support in determining what their future real estate needs will look like and securing a space that gives them room to grow. Peter Conte and Andrew Wheeler in our San Francisco office are engaging with venture capitalists for leads on life sciences companies in the early stages of their growth.
Transwestern is also committed to strengthening its business intelligence capabilities through research and analytics. Stuart Showers is overseeing this work, which is part of the company’s robust Power BI initiative. We look forward to sharing more once the database is available.
Geographically, where does the firm see the greatest opportunities?
Transwestern’s footprint extends to many of the nation’s leading life sciences clusters, and there are significant opportunities to engage landlords and tenants in expanding markets, such as Phoenix, Atlanta, Houston and the Mid-Atlantic. Each is perfectly poised for life sciences growth due to the availability (and in many cases, affordability) of developable land; proximity to major research institutions and top-tier medical centers; access to research and leadership talent; lower cost of living; and opportunities for research funding.
While we have life sciences coverage in most of our major markets, Transwestern has begun drawing on these different pockets of expertise to build a comprehensive national platform. In late 2021, the life sciences team convened in Houston to strategize how we can best position ourselves for to compete for larger assignments and multimarket opportunities.
Mark Stratz
Managing Director – City Leader
Agency Leasing
Phoenix, Arizona
