San Diego’s established reputation as a life sciences hub, as well as its collection of low-rise business parks, made vast stretches of the smaller industrial market ripe for life sciences conversions, which led to substantial property sales.
The purchase of these sites by life sciences players has caused a supply shortage in the industrial market, which has a 2.7% vacancy rate and no new projects proposed. BKM, a brokerage in the city’s industrial sector, estimates that proposed life sciences conversions have displaced 500-plus industrial tenants.
Source: San Diego’s Stalled Lab Conversions Create Industrial Space Crunch