Oxford Properties Group has acquired Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ 18.4-acre life science campus and corporate headquarters in Carlsbad, San Diego, CA through a sale and leaseback transaction.
The Ionis campus features three assets of one and two storeys and comprises approximately 250,000 square feet across 18.4 acres. The buildings are all modern vintage, with the oldest completed in 2011 and the most recent in 2021. They feature chemistry labs, biology labs and R&D support systems as well as modern office space.
As part of the transaction, Ionis will lease the properties for a minimum of 15 years.
The transaction follows on from Oxford’s entrance into the San Diego life science market in February this year via a US$464 million acquisition of a 13-building portfolio.
The acquisition grows Oxford’s existing San Diego life science portfolio to 900,000 square feet of income-producing properties, which will increase to over 1.2 million square feet upon completion of its development pipeline in the local market.
“Our team continues to create sustained yet highly-targeted growth against one of our highest conviction global investment strategies, to build a global life science business of scale,” said Chad Remis, Executive Vice President, North America at Oxford.
“Today’s acquisition adds another leading life sciences company to our business as well as high quality income-producing assets to our growing portfolio plus complements our development pipeline in San Diego. The transaction perfectly encapsulates the purpose of our life science business; by investing Oxford’s capital and capabilities to own, build and manage this highly technical real estate infrastructure we are able to free up the resources of life science firms to better focus on what they do best – research and create the life changing therapeutics of tomorrow. We look forward to working with Ionis as they continue to advance their science for the benefit of society at large,” Remis added.
“Ionis has long maintained a strong financial foundation to support our business objectives. While we have a healthy cash balance, we also have near-term capital needs to scale our organization to deliver on our growth initiatives. This transaction will provide us with significant cash proceeds while allowing us to conduct our day-to-day operations as we normally do. We have worked closely with Oxford to create a bespoke solution that can accommodate our future growth and retain flexibility as our business evolves,” said Elizabeth L. Hougen, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ionis.
The campus is located in Carlsbad, part of the prominent San Diego North County life science cluster and home to leading firms such as Novartis, Thermo Fisher and Genentech. The North County has become highly sought after by life science firms in recent years, which has dropped the vacancy rate to 3.6%.
San Diego has defined itself as one of the most important life science markets globally. Nearly 40% of its population holds a bachelor’s degree or higher, rapidly outpacing the national average of 28%, and its universities graduate more STEM talent than any other region in the US. Its ecosystem is anchored by renowned research institutions and non-profits including San Diego State University, UC San Diego, Scripps Research and the Sandford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. San Diego’s life science market has witnessed record demand over recent years, leading to significant and sustained rental growth with asking rents growing by 34% in 2021.
