Dane Hooks built his career as a real estate broker riding the record growth that unfolded across the San Francisco Bay Area's life science industry. With more than a decade under his belt, Hooks is returning to his hometown to tap into the nation's newest emerging biotech hub: Boulder, Colorado.

The native of the Denver area and graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, recently joined Newmark as director of office and life science leasing and investment sales. He is working to strengthen the group's grip on the region's booming biotech property market. And while Hooks is breaking into a new region, he said witnessing firsthand the accelerating demand for lab and research space is almost déjà vu.
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After working in one of the country's most concentrated biotech hubs as a broker with Cresa and Cushman & Wakefield, "when I look at the life science market around the Boulder area, it's very reflective of the cycle I went through in the East Bay," Hooks told CoStar News.

"Institutional owners have come in to buy buildings and convert them into biotech and lab space, and we're starting to see that take place in its earlier stages in the Denver area," he said. "The last couple of years, we've really seen that boom."

Life science sector growth across the country has far outpaced industries that had previously fueled demand for traditional office space. As a result, developers such as Lincoln Property Co., Tishman Speyer's Breakthrough Properties and Blackstone's BioMed Realty have shifted their attention — and capital — to expanding their biotech portfolios in some of the nation's largest life sciences markets.

As demand for space has outstripped supply in established markets such as Boston and San Francisco, growing life sciences tenants have looked to emerging hubs in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Boulder for more space at cheaper rates.

"There are some very sophisticated lab owners that have started looking to growth and demand in the Boulder area," Hooks said of the region, which has exploded in recent years to encompass upwards of 3.5 million square feet of life science space.

What's more, greater Denver also reported the lowest-recorded vacancy rate among any of the nation's life science clusters last year, according to Newmark research. That's another reason Hooks decided to make the move from San Francisco back to Colorado.

"Now I get to build off my experience in the Bay Area and build my career with the comfort of being in the place where I grew up," said Hooks, who has settled back into his Colorado life with ski trips to Aspen and — as long as there's no snow on the ground — long bike rides.

"The pandemic was certainly a catalyst for my move back to Colorado, especially since there were some opportunities there that didn't exist anymore back in San Francisco," he said. "The move seemed like the right decision since it let me come back closer to my roots and allows me to be somewhere that more aligns with my professional and personal values."

Hooks is planning to take advantage of building the next phase of his career alongside the latest fast-growing market.

"There's an opportunity to stand out in a crowd because it still feels like the area is in its infancy in the sense that there are newer developers and landlords now," he said. "Being able to be on the front end of all this is great."