Life Science Real Estate Overview

Real estate owners and developers have increased interest in life science real estate assets with growing institutional investment in the sector led by groups such as Alexandria Real Estate, BioMed Realty, and Kilroy Realty. In the current uncertain environment, what makes life science assets attractive is often the non-cyclical demand and growing investments by governments and investors around the world. The specialized nature of life science real estate often makes clients moving locations less likely given the expense of building out an office and moving equipment. There have been reports in numerous trade publications regarding the high demand for life sciences space in excess of 2 million square feet per year with no slowdown in sight.

Life Science Marketing

Marketing life science real estate during Covid has required a retooling of the branding kit and moving marketing dollars from physical mock-ups to virtual build-outs. It is even more important for life science marketing to be tech-forward in order to attract their tech savvy and location-picky tenants. From complicated HVAC build outs to expensive and heavy equipment; labs require an additional layer of planning. Visualizations and virtual walk-throughs can lead to better planning resulting in significant cost and time savings for both landlords and tenants.

While marketing life science projects like Cascadian, the location being near the city center or other innovation hubs is important, but highlighting what differentiates the property from competitors needs to stand out given the increase in developers building out the space. In smaller markets it could be the amenities, near mass transit or the newer nature of the building, but in markets known for life science offices like Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles really gearing the branding and messaging becomes paramount.

Having visualizations, whether it’s a fly-through animation, still renderings or virtual reality is an important element of asset positioning in attracting tenants. The immersive experience provides clarity to potential tenants about the project and surrounding areas and helps pinpoint key elements that are most important to them and deliver the feedback in a faster and more effective manner.