A new “boutique biotech hotel” building project is today in front of officials as they decide on the future development of a potential new life sciences community in South San Francisco.
A local news report from The Daily Journal says the project, being looked over by a planning commission today, wants to create a new boutique hotel known as the Genesis project, near Airport Boulevard.
Phase 3 properties, which is running the deal, bought the 12-story tower, previously known as Centennial Towers, last year. It wants to build the hotel with up to 100 rooms, along with a restaurant and retail space, a bakery, and other amenities.
It isn’t just any old hotel, however, and serves as a specific “connective piece”, harbouring a new biotech community between the office space and other visitors to the site.
“This central link provides the type of collision space where tenants and the community can meet, and is designed to create the vibrant and active life science community center that is central to Phase 3’s vision for Genesis South San Francisco,” according to a city report quoted by the Journal.
On top of this, a second tower is being built up as a new research and development space for life sciences companies in order to “address the growing demand for biotechnology accommodations in South San Francisco.” It had originally been slated to be just housing; this project should be completed by 2018.
The vision is, essentially, to create a new biotech community in the San Francisco area where researchers can work and play and rub shoulders – in the hope that some spark of innovation may be created among a bustling group of like-minded life science minds, (and where they can also do yoga, go to the gym and buy a gluten-free bun).
In effect, Phase 3 wants to create the vibe of Kendall Square in Massachusetts and inject this, in a short period, at the base of the San Bruno Mountain.
The East Coast can in the public imagination be seen as the place for biotech, but the West Coast has its own major life sciences research community. This year also saw a fairly even split between East and West Coast companies in the 2016 Fierce 15.