Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer signed a 15-year lease to occupy about 230,000 square feet at developer Breakthrough Properties' newly built Torrey Heights office campus in San Diego.
It was among the region's largest office leases of 2024, at a time when many life science companies nationwide were scaling back on real estate amid shifting research and development priorities in the post-pandemic era. The March transaction also brought the project, originally known as Torrey View, to be fully preleased after prior tenant signings, ahead of its completion later in 2024.
Since the 1950s, San Diego has nurtured a burgeoning network of companies, university programs and research institutions tied to pharmaceuticals, genetic treatments and other healthcare-related endeavors. It remains among the top three regions for life science activity, after Boston and San Francisco, with venture funding to the industry remaining steady while research continues for in-demand treatments in areas such as diabetes, obesity, cancer and dementia.
Pfizer is deploying two buildings at Torrey Heights for ongoing work by its oncology division. For its expected long-term benefits for the region's life science ecosystem, a panel of local real estate experts selected the transaction to receive a CoStar Impact Award for lease of the year in San Diego.
About the deal: Pfizer Oncology preleased nearly half of developer Breakthrough Properties' 520,000-square-foot, 10-acre Torrey Heights office campus in San Diego's Del Mar Heights-Carmel Valley neighborhood. Los Angeles-based Breakthrough Properties is a joint venture of developer Tishman Speyer and biotech investment firm Bellco Capital. Pfizer's lease in building A is for 109,166 square feet, out of that building's total of just shy of 170,000 square feet.
The three-building campus includes offices and labs, along with a client clubhouse, on-site dining venues, fitness center and a pickleball court. There is also bike and surfboard storage, a parking garage and a 400-person conference facility.
What the judges said: Breakthrough Properties' new life science complex "is set to attract top-tier talent and drive significant growth in the area," said Abraham Edid, co-founder and CEO of developer Blue Centurion Homes in San Diego. "This development will not only enhance the region's innovation ecosystem but also generate increased demand for housing and additional infrastructure, further shaping the future of this thriving community."
Todd Davis, senior vice president with brokerage Kidder Mathews, said the project "has an incredible design and amenities package to attract a great company to expand in the area, adding to the life science cluster."
Liza Strom, executive vice president and principal at Strom Commercial Real Estate, cited the transaction's size in square footage and "the fact that it was with one of the top five pharma (and Fortune 100) companies globally." She said it was "crucial that we continue to secure established and evolving pharma" as San Diego competes with other regions like Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area for life science business.
They made it happen: Dan Leon, Sarah Williams, Jonathan Parot and Dan D'Orazi of Breakthrough Properties; Chad Urie, Grant Schoneman and Taylor DeBerry of JLL; Brian Starck and Connor Barnes of Cushman & Wakefield.