CHARLOTTE, N.C. and SAN DIEGO, Oct. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Barings, one of the world’s largest diversified real estate investment managers, along with Phase 3 Real Estate Partners and Bain Capital Real Estate, announced today that their joint venture has secured Excellos as a tenant at Genesis San Diego, a premier Class A life science building located at 1155 Island Avenue in Downtown San Diego, California. Excellos, a novel cell and gene therapy Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), will establish its global headquarters at this state-of-the-art facility. As Downtown San Diego’s second-ever life sciences lab lease, the agreement spans a full floor consisting of 36,383 square feet and brings Genesis San Diego to 36 percent leased.
“We are excited to welcome Excellos, another innovative tenant, to Genesis San Diego, which is becoming an important life science location within San Diego’s innovation economy,” said Ben Green, Managing Director, Asset Management at Barings. “We continue to collaborate closely with our partners to foster an environment that supports the ground-breaking life sciences advancements of Excellos and others in our building.”
“Our new headquarters will enable us to increase our capabilities necessary to meet the growing industry demand for highly-characterized cellular material,” said David Wellis, Ph.D., CEO of Excellos. “Centrally located, and expertly designed, the lab space and new cleanrooms will allow a seamless transition from collection and isolation to process development and manufacturing of cell and gene therapies. This move demonstrates our resolute commitment to supply our partners and patients with the best therapies possible.”
“This lease is a reflection of the continued interest by San Diego life sciences companies in the emerging Downtown lab market in general and in the value of the high quality ready-to-occupy space delivered at Genesis San Diego. Excellos is a great addition and complement to the mission critical research and development ecosystem curated at the project,” said BJ Van Aken, Executive Vice President, Phase 3 Real Estate Partners.
Genesis San Diego is a 203,000 square foot, 8-story life sciences building. The property is situated in Downtown San Diego’s East Village district surrounded by numerous retail, dining and entertainment amenities, and immediately adjacent to two San Diego Trolley (light rail) lines, providing Genesis San Diego a 99 WalkScore and 81 TransitScore. The property is three blocks from the Petco Park Major League Baseball stadium (home of the Padres), and Callie, a Michelin-recognized restaurant tenant, operates on the ground floor of Genesis San Diego. Additional retail, dining and entertainment amenities can be found in the Gaslamp Quarter, which is a six-minute walk to the west.
With a commitment to sustainability, tenant health and wellness, and digital connectivity, Genesis San Diego includes smart building systems, green design elements, and outdoor amenity areas on the eight, fifth and ground levels, and is currently LEED-Gold. Recent building upgrades include HVAC and plumbing infrastructure (such as VRF heating and cooling systems, new exhaust fans, 100% outside air for lab areas, and needlepoint bipolar ionization), along with a new 5,000 lb. service elevator and upgraded lab floor loads. Additional enhancements include a new lab services facility with a glass wash, autoclave and staffed shipping and receiving room, a top floor lounge and event space, and ready-to-occupy ‘spec suites’ consisting of 50% lab / 50% office built out in various sizes throughout the building.
About Barings
Barings is a $338+ billion* global investment manager sourcing differentiated opportunities and building long-term portfolios across public and private fixed income, real estate, and specialist equity markets. With investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, the firm, a subsidiary of MassMutual, aims to serve its clients, communities and employees, and is committed to sustainable practices and responsible investment.
*As of September 30, 2022
About Genesis San Diego
Genesis is a life science real estate brand that leverages the deep experience and global breadth of its owners’ partnership to create an environment focused on meeting the needs of its tenants to accelerate their ground-breaking discovery. Genesis’ owners unique integrated venture combines Phase 3 Real Estate Partner’s decades of life science real estate development and tenant experience with Bain Capital’s pioneering value-add investment approach and the firm’s decades of leading experience in the Healthcare and Life Science industry. At Genesis, we relentlessly pursue not only to provide the right environment today but through our deep industry partnerships and participation provide the best environment for cultivating tomorrow’s undiscovered advances in science.
About Phase 3 Real Estate Partners
Phase 3 Real Estate Partners, Inc., (“Phase 3”) develops premier ready to occupy research and development facilities in the major innovation clusters of the United States. Phase 3’s focus on delivering the highest quality space with accelerated speed to occupancy within these key geographies allows companies to immediately pursue their scientific goals. The Phase 3 team delivers a clean, modern design aesthetic, the right combination of amenities to create community and appropriate infrastructure to meet the needs of the companies who call our facilities home. The firm’s expertise in development, construction and management of life science facilities results in a strong partnership between our tenants and our team. Phase 3’s current portfolio consists of nearly 4.5 million square feet and is growing in San Diego, San Francisco and Boston.
About Bain Capital Real Estate
Bain Capital Real Estate was formed in 2018 and pursues investments in often hard-to-access sectors underpinned by enduring secular trends that drive long-term demand growth for real estate assets and services. The Bain Capital Real Estate team has been executing its strategy since 2010 (formerly as a part of Harvard Management Company), having invested and committed more than $6.9 billion of equity in more than 550 assets across multiple sectors, including more than $1.7 billion in over 6.8 million SF of life sciences assets. Bain Capital Real Estate focuses on small to mid-sized assets where the team applies its deep industry expertise to accelerate impact and drive operational improvements. Bain Capital Real Estate’s strategy aligns with the value-added investment approach that Bain Capital pioneered and leverages the firm’s global platform and significant experience across asset classes to further bolster its insights and sourcing capabilities.
About Excellos
Built on the foundation of the San Diego Blood Bank, Excellos is focused on supplying cGMP cellular products and services, together with process development and manufacturing expertise to scientists and clinicians working with cell and gene therapies. Excellos is dedicated to improving human life by providing critical products and services to life science research and the next generation of cell and gene therapies. Learn more at www.excellos.com
