It seems fitting that the Genesis Marina, a high-end life sciences campus on the waterfront in Brisbane, south of San Francisco, was built on an old landfill. The Sierra Point Solid Waste Disposal site, which took in some 2.6 million cubic yards of garbage between 1965 and 1972, has since been transformed into a model for real estate sustainability.
Located in the biotech-heavy region south of San Francisco, Genesis Marina was the first construction site to achieve Total Resource Use and Efficiency, or TRUE, certification, meaning the development diverted more than 98% of its waste from heading to landfills or being burned, thanks to an ambitious initiative led by Webcor in partnership with All About Waste.
Today, that 560,000-square-foot, Class A campus is positioned at the gateway to a cluster of life sciences facilities on the manmade peninsula jutting into the San Francisco Bay alongside Interstate 101. Bain Capital's real estate arm and developer, Phase 3 Real Estate Partners, finished the project in 2024. The three buildings are outfitted to accommodate 21st-century life sciences companies such as Freenome, an early cancer detection company that was among the first life sciences firms to lease space there.
Despite post-pandemic headwinds that continue to challenge life sciences firms, the project has helped reinforce the Bay Area's status as a global biotech hub in recent years while setting a new standard for environmentally conscious development, a feat that helped the project garner a 2025 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
The project "will help bring bleeding edge science to the mass market," predicted Hans Hansson, an impact award judge and president at Starboard Commercial Real Estate.
About the project: The campus occupies an 8.9-acre waterfront site at 3000, 3300 and 3500 Marina Blvd. on Sierra Point. In addition to its sustainability features, the project is green from a human standpoint, with easy accessibility to public transit and freeway access. Employee amenities include a fitness center and outdoor "collaborative" areas with views of the bay.
What the judges said: "This project is a major addition to the life sciences community and was well thought out," said Michael Sanberg, a broker at Touchstone Commercial Partners.
They made it happen: Phase 3 selected Paradigm Structural Engineers and architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill to design the project. Graham Beatty, Ben Paul and Marc Pope of Cushman & Wakefield, Mike Moran of CBRE and Rebekah Studer of Phase 3 Real Estate Partners are overseeing the leasing of the buildings.