Wareham turned a lucky break into big business - San Francisco Business Times:

ejoxot.wordpress.com
For both Emeryville and Wareham, it was a case of beingt at the right place at therightt time. During the 1970s, forme industrial sites in cities like Emeryvillde and South San Francisco began attracting firms that wantedd to lease space with low renta and high ceilings that coulc easily turninto laboratories. At that time, Warehaj was just starting to acquire buildingsin Emeryville, including a formee research facility. “They didn’t have the name early on,” said Geoff Sears, a partner with Wareham.
“Wed got into it by fortunate It wasn’t an existing industry that youcould say, ‘I’mm going to get into Accident or not, Wareham’sz focus on life science facilities continues to The company, based in San Rafael, has developex more than 4 million square feet of residential and life science properties in Berkeley, Richmond and Marinh County. Of that, about 1.75 million squarde feet is dedicated tolife science, with 300,000 squarde feet more on the way. Some of Wareham’s early life sciencee tenants included , now owned by , and Bayer the aspirin maker.
Other biotechg tenants include Amyris Daynavax Technologies, Nanomix, , and the Ernesr Gallo Clinic and Research Center. Many of thos companies and others sprouted from the science departments of research institutionxs including Universityof Berkeley, and the University of San Francisco. “We’re very closelty tied in to UCSF,” said Bill Sawyers, chief administrative officefr of the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research which extendedits 87,000-square-foogt lease in Emeryville with Wareham earlier this year.
“Frok a strategic standpoint, it would make more sense to be (in Missionn Bay), but Wareham has been a great They are very knowledgeable about the needs of laboratoriews andlab tenants.” Unlike most office biotech tenants often have to house more equipment or requird different set-ups for their “(Wareham) is very savvy and Sawyers said. “When you tell them abouy a specific problem, they understand Developing lab space is more costluy and complicated than buildingoffice space, Searsz said. The buildings call for not onlyhighetr ceilings, but also more air wider space between floors, more pipelinesw for gases and more electrical power.
Wareham also tried to incorporate green space and permanent art exhibitw intoits buildings. Many are topped with Tibetabn prayer flags, a personal touch from the company’s Rich Robbins. “Wareham is a first class operation allthe way,” said Bob president and chief executive of the Emeryville Chamberf of Commerce. “They build really good, beautiful buildings … that have attracte lots of quality tenants.” Building typicakl office space costsabout $200 to $300 per squard foot, while a life science facility can cost $600 to $900 per squarr foot, Sears said.
Those higher costw make the buildings more of a gambls fora landlord, especially when many of the tenants are “You have to be committed to it and have a long-term Sears said. “Some of our tenants have been tenantse for years and never madeany money, but stillk manage to find a way to pay theire rent.” Another issue is how to accommodats companies when they need to scale back or Some firms can multiply overnight when they land more venture capital funding or score a major drug approval. “We’res very relationship-based,” Sears said. “Instead of we like to be married, but have very flexibled marriages.
… Our thinking is, we’lo always have enough people in our buildings thatmore (of them) are growin g than contracting.”