Bay Area Life Sciences Pulse Check: Market Demand And Trends

Exploring Lab Space Demand, Market Dynamics, Construction Insights, and Site Selection Alternatives

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  Adam Voelker

  Adam Voelker serves as Business Unit Leader and Principal for Trammell Crow Company’s Northern California Business Unit. In this role, he is responsible for day-to-day operations of the office and strategic oversight of all new development and investment activity in the Bay Area. Prior to joining Trammell Crow Company, Adam worked as a Managing Director for Tishman Speyer for nine years in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. He was responsible for acquisitions and new development opportunities in Northern California across office, life science and residential product types. In this role he was integrally involved in all capital markets activities, partner relationships and managed the development of Mission Rock, a 2.7-million-square-foot mixed-use project in San Francisco on the waterfront. Before joining Tishman Speyer, Voelker worked in Acquisitions and Project Management at The Abbey Company in Southern California after graduating from Penn State University. Voelker is actively involved in ULI through the national IOPC Council, with City of Hope on the Bay Area Building Hope board, and through several local community organizations.

  Trammell Crow Company

  Principal

  Adam Voelker

  Principal

  Trammell Crow Company

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  Alex Browne

  National Director, Research & Life Sciences

  Transwestern

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  Geoffrey Sears

  Wareham Development is committed to the long-term economic and environmental vitality of our communities. We work closely with city and state agencies to ensure that each project provides maximum benefit to its surrounding community. Unlike many developers who build projects only to sell, we retain ownership of the majority of our developments, many of which have defined the thriving technology corridor between the Bay and Richmond-San Rafael bridges.

  Wareham Development

  Partner

  Geoffrey Sears

  Partner

  Wareham Development

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  Reid Senescu

  Reid Senescu is VP of Product Management at Doxel. His team talks with folks in construction and communicates their needs to software developers who use AI to help the industry build better, faster, with lower costs. His career began as a structural engineer, founded a construction tech startup out of his PhD research at Stanford and then led product for Rhumbix followed by Enlighted (acquired by Siemens).

  Doxel

  VP, Product Management

  Reid Senescu

  VP, Product Management

  Doxel

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  Danielle McGuire

  Danielle M. McGuire AIA, DBIA is the Science Practice Director at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, overseeing the firm’s diverse global portfolio of science and engineering projects. Danielle grew-up thinking she was destined for a career in the sciences and the only question was scale - studying gluons or hot jupiters. While at University, Danielle became fascinated with how the built environment tells the story of the people for whom the buildings were created and how in turn those buildings affect those people's lives. After graduating with a Master of Architecture, Danielle worked on a wide variety of projects eventually finding her niche, combining her love of science and drive to create places to improve the lives of their inhabitants. Infinitely curious, Danielle focuses not just on understanding what is needed in research buildings today - but in working with her clients to project what will be needed in the ever changing world of discovery. With over 30 years of experience, Danielle’s portfolio includes commercial, university and government research buildings. These projects are intentionally designed to be adaptable and grounded in creating research environments that are as much about the people who work in them as they are about the equipment they use. “Even as technology advances, it’s people—their thinking, ideas, and “a-ha” moments—that are the key to discovering what we don’t yet know. We partner with our clients to create adaptable buildings to house new technology and tools, while never losing sight of the need to design good spaces for the people who fuel discoveries.” Danielle McGuire

  SOM

  Principal & Science Practice Director

  Danielle McGuire

  Principal & Science Practice Director

  SOM

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  Sherif Eldash

  Master’s graduate in Civil Engineering with over 13 years of experience in pre-construction for commercial tenant improvement projects, specializing in the life sciences industry. Extensive expertise in cost estimating, value engineering, subcontractor bidding, contract negotiation, bid leveling, and cost analysis. Proven ability to lead and manage preconstruction departments and teams of estimators, ensuring all tasks are completed efficiently and bids are submitted without scope gaps. Skilled in overseeing and driving the success of preconstruction phases to deliver well-coordinated, cost-effective project outcomes.

  GCI General Contractors

  Preconstrution Manager

  Sherif Eldash

  Preconstrution Manager

  GCI General Contractors

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  Tony Natsis

  A name partner of the firm, Anton N. Natsis is Chair of Allen Matkins’ Real Estate Department and is one of the top real estate attorneys in the United States. His practice focuses on development, leasing, purchase and sale, and portfolio investment sales transactions involving office, retail, and industrial projects, as well as arbitrating numerous fair market value disputes, CAM disputes and other significant landlord/tenant disputes. He also has extensive experience in debt, equity, and joint venture workouts, and the purchase of distressed assets and distressed debt. Tony is continually sought out by some of the largest national land owners, such as J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Blackstone Real Estate, Brookfield Properties, HCP, Vornado Realty Trust, Regent Properties, The Irvine Company, Boston Properties, Equity Office Properties, Kilroy Realty, Inc., Beacon Capital Partners, MPG Office Trust, Kamehameha Schools (The Bishop Estate) and Westfield Corporation. He represents many governmental entities, including the LAUSD, State of California, and City of Anaheim. Tony is also frequently retained as counsel for major national office tenants, such as AT&T, Citicorp, the FDIC, AIG, The Walt Disney Company, and the Los Angeles Times. A frequent lecturer and author, Tony is the chief consultant for the California Continuing Education of the Bar Commercial Leasing Series, the legal education reference book on leasing for California attorneys, is an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School for a course covering commercial real estate transactions, and has spoken before such national real estate groups as ULI and BOMA. Tony is a founding board member of The Ziman Real Estate Center, which is governed under the joint auspices of the UCLA Anderson School of Business and the UCLA Law School. In the past decade, Tony has closed commercial office leases exceeding 50 million square feet. He has worked on real estate purchase contracts with a total consideration of more than $30 billion and on development transactions with a total consideration in excess of $25 billion. Since 2006, Tony has represented clients in office building portfolio investment sales transactions involving over $75 billion of consideration. One of Tony's most significant transactions is the largest real estate acquisition deal in the history of the United States. He provided extensive real estate services in connection with Blackstone Real Estate's purchase of Equity Office Properties Trust, at that point the largest owner of office space in the U.S. other than the Federal Government, for $43 billion. Subsequently, Blackstone contracted to sell over 50% of the properties it purchased with such sales closing in the first and second quarter of 2007. Tony assisted Blackstone in its acquisition due diligence related to EOP and the subsequent sales of the properties. The transactions related to this deal included Maguire Properties' purchase of Blackstone/EOP in Orange County for $2 billion, Irvine Company's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Diego for $1 billion, Morgan Stanley's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Francisco for $2.5 billion, and Beacon Capital Partners’ purchase of Blackstone/EOP Seattle for $6.3 billion.

  Allen Matkins

  Partner

  Moderator

  Tony Natsis

  Partner

  Allen Matkins

Crafting Tomorrow's Innovation Spaces: Building Sustainable and Adaptable Environments

Building and Maintaining Labs in the New Frontier of Versatility, Sustainability, and Efficiency

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  Justin Dunn

  As Vice President at SteelWave I help lead the GC, CM & Design businesses (CDS), spearhead the Sustainability & Impact Team, and source/drive entitlement and development deals for our NorCal A&D Team. We are currently focused on executing the development of over 3M SF of large-scale life science/R&D buildings, as well as acquiring value-add Industrial & value-add mixed-use projects across California. I have an M.S. in Sustainable Urban Development from the University of Oxford, complemented by a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, where I was recognized as an All-American and National Champion student-athlete. Known as 'A Champion for Others', I'm passionate about creating impactful, sustainable built environments and driving innovation in real estate development.

  SteelWave

  VP of Sustainability

  Justin Dunn

  VP of Sustainability

  SteelWave

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  Benjamin Stevenson

  Experienced Facilities Operations Professional with a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnology industry. I bring enthusiasm, insight, and a genuine sense of what really works to help tech and biotech companies build organizational excellence and agility to fuel rapid growth.

  CARGO Therapeutics

  Director of Facilities

  Benjamin Stevenson

  Director of Facilities

  CARGO Therapeutics

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  Rachel Lee

  An award-winning architect, Rachel brings over 20 years of experience leading science and technology and research and development facility projects for tech companies, top research institutions, biotech companies, and developers. Her attention to meeting clients’ needs and her spirit of collaboration across all disciplines results in successful outcomes for highly complex projects. Within the lab design industry, Rachel is a thought leader helping to define new paradigms and trends in R+D facilities. She has frequently presented at conferences across the U.S., including Tradeline, I2SL and the Lab Design Conference.

  HDR

  Education & Science Principal

  Rachel Lee

  Education & Science Principal

  HDR

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  Kevin Koblik

  As a Sr. Project Manager in HOK's San Francisco Science + Technology studio, Kevin strives to slice through complexity and drive an efficient project process. Kevin has a strong technical background managing projects and client relationships across the Science + Technology portfolio for over 15 years. Kevin has experience across a wide variety of project types and sizes, and has led Science + Technology projects from initial concept to completion ranging from small tenant improvements within functioning laboratories to large ground up and full adaptable re-use building renovations. Kevin is committed to tailoring impactful sustainable design solutions to meet a project specific needs within the demanding and energy intensive Science + Technology typology.

  HOK

  Sr. Project Manager

  Kevin Koblik

  Sr. Project Manager

  HOK

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  Michael Fahrenholz

  Sr. Project Manager

  Turner Construction

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  Emily English

  With a background in sustainability and green building, as well as expertise in material health, Emily leads the Sustainability Department at BNBuilders, shaping corporate initiatives and working with project teams to support client sustainability goals. Emily has completed dozens of LEED projects, and currently is an appointee to the LEED Materials and Resources Technical Advisory Group and drafting LEED v5. Additionally, she has worked on WELL, Fitwell and Living Building Challenge projects. Her areas of focus include healthy materials, embodied carbon, material salvage and reuse, and waste prevention and diversion.

  BNBuilders

  Sustainability Director

  Moderator

  Emily English

  Sustainability Director

  BNBuilders

Shaping Bay Area's Life Sciences Landscape: Developing Labs for Diverse Tenant Needs

Discover Lab Types, Design Considerations, and Cost-Effective Elements Ensuring Tenant Satisfaction

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  Laura Billings

  Laura has over 17 years’ experience in all facets of real estate development within the office, industrial and multifamily housing sectors, including acquisitions, due diligence, leasing/marketing, financing, entitlements and project/construction management. Laura formerly served as the Director of Development for a San-Francisco-based development firm, where she completed a 110,000 square-foot two-building industrial facility for the City of San Francisco, earning a City and national award for best private-public partnered project. Other project highlights include the successful entitlement of a 100-unit and a 230-unit condominium project in San Francisco in 2016 with full community support, the design and entitlement of an 86,000sf Class A office building in the Stanford Research Park and an historic renovation of a 40,000sf office suite in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. She previously worked in community development banking and municipal housing bond finance. Laura has a passion for green building and served on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia with degrees in Political and Social Thought and Urban Planning and holds an MBA with a certificate in Real Estate from U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

  srmErnst Development Partners

  Principal

  Laura Billings

  Principal

  srmErnst Development Partners

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  Andres Orphanopoulos

  Andres focuses on entitlements and land use as well as acquisitions and leasing. Prior to Woodstock, Andres worked as a development director on behalf of a regional portfolio focused on mixed use development. He began his career practicing law at a global firm representing institutional lenders and servicers. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and SAMCEDA and stays involved with his alma mater, St Ignatius College Prep as an alumni board member. Andres graduated from the University of San Diego where he earned a degree in International Relations. He lives in San Mateo with his wife and two children.

  Woodstock Development

  Partner

  Andres Orphanopoulos

  Partner

  Woodstock Development

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  Abel Gonzalez

  As Executive Vice President of Operations and Regional Director of Life Sciences & Healthcare at Suffolk Construction, Abel Gonzalez’s 28 years of experience have made him a leader in technically complex projects. Abel has managed projects across a diverse range of sectors, including life sciences, healthcare, higher education, and commercial. Notable projects throughout his career include partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients such as Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Inc., and Edwards Lifesciences, leading healthcare providers such as Kaiser Permanente and Cedars-Sinai, and prominent higher education and research institutions such as The California Institute of Technology and The University of Southern California.

  Suffolk Construction

  EVP

  Abel Gonzalez

  EVP

  Suffolk Construction

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  Jamie Salvo

  Director of Interiors

  FORGE Architecture

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  Robert Fagnant

  An associate partner with Syska Hennessy Group, Robert manages staff and projects across the multi-discipline MEP services. Robert has extensive experience with laboratory and life sciences projects including spaces for ISO cleanroom pharma manufacturing, electron microscopy, mass spectroscopy, BSL-3 containment, NMR environments, neuropharmacology and electrophysiology. He’s worked on projects with The Scripps Research Institute, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, The Burnham Institute, Pfizer and Genentech. Robert’s depth of experience in both design and project management enhances collaboration with owners, architects, and contractors.

  Syska Hennessy Group

  Associate Partner

  Robert Fagnant

  Associate Partner

  Syska Hennessy Group

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  Kurt Lindorfer

  Kurt’s professional engineering career spans over 40 years. His expertise includes structural engineering design for Mission Critical Facilities such as Data Centers, Health Care Facilities such as Hospitals and Clinics and Life Sciences Facilities such as Biopharmaceutical Pilot Plants and Production Facilities around the United States and the World. His area of expertise is in designing buildings to be occupable after natural disasters including Tornados, Hurricanes and Earthquakes. He has been the structural engineer of record for conventional “fixed Base Buildings” ranging from 1-23 stories, “Base Isolated Buildings” ranging from 1-5 stories, and the retrofit and new construction of buildings incorporating Fluid Viscous Dampers ranging from 1-22 stories. He has published numerous papers on passive energy dissipation and presented the findings at various conventions in Boston, San Francisco and Milan. For over 23 years as the Founding Principal at PARADIGM Structural Engineers, Kurt spends most of his time developing new leaders at PARADIGM and mentoring staff in Chicago and San Francisco.

  PARADIGM Structural Engineers

  Founding Principal

  Moderator

  Kurt Lindorfer

  Founding Principal

  PARADIGM Structural Engineers

Partnerships Driving Innovation: Growing and Elevating Bay Area's Life Sciences Ecosystem

Exploring Strategic Alliances for Advancing Regional Excellence and National Influence

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  Darek DeFreece

  Darek DeFreece (‘93) is the founder and executive director of the Berkeley Space Center. He joined UC Berkeley in 2018 focusing on strategic initiatives for the campus. He has been an attorney and capital markets executive for more than 20 years at various global financial and investment management firms. He separately advises a number of early stage companies and venture capital. He received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and his juris doctorate from Boston College Law School. Mr. DeFreece has served on the boards of numerous educational and non-profit organizations, including as a regent of the University of California, the president of the Cal Alumni Association, advisor to the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley and trustee of the UC Berkeley Foundation. He is a Berkeley Fellow. Currently, he is a member of the finance committee for the Trevor Project, a national non-profit focused on crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth and the chair of the Board for the Grammy award winning Pacific Boychoir Academy in Oakland, California. He lives in Oakland with his husband Alan and their two children, Jacob and Riley.

  Berkeley Space Center at UC Berkeley

  Founder and Executive Director

  Darek DeFreece

  Founder and Executive Director

  Berkeley Space Center at UC Berkeley

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  Michelle Nemits

  As Executive Director of Biocom’s South San Francisco office, Michelle is responsible for building the framework for enabling the creation of a strong, well-connected life science community in the Bay Area. She leads Biocom’s programming and benefits efforts and helps raise awareness of the region’s innovations and accomplishments. Michelle has spent over 20 years in Bay Area life science sales, marketing and business development. She has held leadership roles at a large lab supply distributor and at a biotech tools startup, which fostered her broad view of the Bay Area market, its challenges and its opportunities.

  Biocom

  Executive Director, Bay Area

  Michelle Nemits

  Executive Director, Bay Area

  Biocom

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  Carmen Domingo

  Carmen Domingo became the dean of the College of Science and Engineering at San Francisco State University in 2019, marking historic milestone as the first women and Latina to hold this position. She oversees the largest college at the university, serving over 7000 majors. Joining SF State as an assistant professor of Biology in 1997, Carmen later served as associate chair of Biology from 2007 to 2015 and was the interim dean in 2017. An expert in vertebrate embryology, she has taught and mentored hundreds of students in both the classroom and research lab, many of whom have pursued excellent Ph.D. programs and careers in biomedical sciences. Carmen has secured numerous grants from the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, private foundations and non-profit organizations. These grants support her research activities, student training, STEM diversity efforts, and professional development opportunities for faculty. In 2018 she was elected as a California Academy of Sciences fellow. Recently, she oversaw the construction of a 125,000 sq. ft. all-electric science and engineering building dedicated to advancing STEM teaching and research. Carmen earned her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley in 1995. She was a recipient of a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship from 1995 to 1997 in the Integrative Biology Department at UC Berkeley.

  SFSU

  Dean of the College of Science and Engineering

  Carmen Domingo

  Dean of the College of Science and Engineering

  SFSU

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  Alex Mathers

  Alex Mathers is Principal and Partner at GMC Commissioning, Inc. His industry experience includes over 15 years’ in the commercial building design and construction industry, specializing in mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering and operations. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from James Madison University and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering (MSME) from San Diego State University. He is a registered Professional Engineer and a Certified Commissioning Authority. In 2016 Mr. Mathers was honored to win the Consulting-Specifying Engineer Top 40 Under 40 award. Alex is active in both the resident engineering community and national engineering organizations. He has working experience with a number of industries including, environmental, industrial manufacturing and extensive experience in telecommunication and mission critical data center design.

  GMC Commissioning

  Principal

  Alex Mathers

  Principal

  GMC Commissioning

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  Deepa Balgi

  S&T Principal

  HGA

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  Ed Wood

  As President and COO of CoBUILD Construction Services, Ed Wood has developed the most EQ-focused construction team serving the Bay Area and Colorado Front Range. Ed co-founded CoBUILD after more than 25 years as a general contractor and client representative for national developers. He saw that collaboration, creative problem solving, and a willingness to embrace new technologies were the keys to fulfilling CoBUILD’s mission of creating environments for people to succeed. He enjoys working with the mix of scientific innovations, diverse organizations, and natural resources Colorado has to offer to make unique construction projects come to life

  CoBuild Construction Services

  President

  Ed Wood

  President

  CoBuild Construction Services

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  Cynthia NeSmith-Montanez

  Cynthia NeSmith-Montanez, a Senior Director in MGAC’s San Francisco office, has over 37 years of experience working on a wide variety of projects, from small tenant improvements to multi-building projects. She has worked on teams big and small for medical office buildings, hospitals, biotech facilities, corporate campuses, hotel renovations, and financial institutions. Cynthia brings deep knowledge of the industry, combining practical knowledge and theoretical understanding developed from her time in both owner’s representation and as a general contractor.

  MGAC

  Senior Director, Northern California

  Moderator

  Cynthia NeSmith-Montanez

  Senior Director, Northern California

  MGAC

Capitalizing on Change: A Deep Dive into Deals and Investments Amidst Shifting Interest Rates

Discussing Creative Strategies for Success in Bay Area Life Sciences Capital Markets

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  Razmig Boladian

  Razmig co-manages RPP and is specifically responsible for asset management and capital markets. Prior to RPP, Razmig, a serial entrepreneur, co-founded several companies and practices, including Roland Berger Strategy Consultants’ Middle East practice and served as Partner and Saudi Arabian Country Manager. Within six years, Roland Berger was ranked one of the top five consulting firms in the Middle East, managing over fifty consultants. Razmig started his career at Booz & Co. and Deloitte Consulting. Razmig is a graduate of American University of Beirut, Carnegie Mellon University, and Harvard University.

  Rubicon Point Partners

  Managing Partner

  Razmig Boladian

  Managing Partner

  Rubicon Point Partners

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  Lauren Krause

  VP & Head of Development

  Essex Property Trust

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  Jeff Uittenbogaard

  As Senior Vice President of Capital Markets at Tarlton Properties, Jeff is responsible for the sourcing and underwriting of new acquisitions and development opportunities. Jeff creates partnerships, secures capital, and manages investor relations. He is a commercial real estate veteran with 20 years of experience in asset management, development, and acquisitions and dispositions. Prior to joining Tarlton, Jeff was Managing Director at Principal Real Estate Investors, where he managed a $2 billion real estate portfolio, developed over $1B of property, and acquired and sold assets totaling over $500 million.

  Tarlton Properties

  SVP, Capital Markets

  Jeff Uittenbogaard

  SVP, Capital Markets

  Tarlton Properties

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  Michael Polentz

  Mike Polentz is a partner in the firm’s Silicon Valley office and leads Manatt Real Estate. He focuses his practice on acquisition, leasing, land use, development, construction, alternative energy, and business and commercial law. Mike represents buyers, sellers, investors, lenders, developers and contractors in commercial, office, industrial, single-family and multifamily residential, vineyard/winery, hotel, fractional interest, infrastructure, and alternative energy transactions. He regularly negotiates and documents transactional, development, construction, acquisition, disposition, public-private partnership, power purchase and financing documents, and performs and manages complex due diligence investigations. In addition, he advises clients on CEQA compliance and growth control measures, development conditions and exactions, redevelopment, zoning, rezoning, subdivisions, planning, variances, annexations and construction. Mike has extensive experience in negotiating and documenting commercial, retail, industrial and residential space; ground, out-parcel, in-line, single-tenant and multitenant leases; and built-to-suit transactions for landlords, tenants and brokers. He advises Fortune 100 clients throughout the United States with their real estate portfolios and has recently closed over 50 large office, industrial and R&D leases totaling 5 million square feet, including significant build-to-suit and lease purchase options, with lease and tenant improvement values exceeding $3 billion in the aggregate. Mike is also well versed in the formation of partnerships, corporations and limited liability companies; general corporate governance; negotiating and preparing joint venture, merger, acquisition, buy-sell and employment agreements; assisting in securing licenses and regulatory approvals from federal and state agencies; and negotiating and preparing distribution, supply, marketing, intellectual property, joint venture and vendor agreements.

  Manatt Phelps & Phillips

  Partner

  Moderator

  Michael Polentz

  Partner

  Manatt Phelps & Phillips

Executive Outlook: Future of Bay Area Life Sciences Real Estate

How are Leading Owners, Developers, and Contractors Building Future-Proof Lab and Incubator Spaces?

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  Banasha King

  Banasha is based in San Francisco and is responsible for our Life Sciences operations including Beacon Ready Labs across the portfolio. Prior to joining Beacon, she was the Senior Director of the Americas for Engineering & Property Services in Johnson and Johnson where she was responsible for the strategy and execution of facilities management operations across North and Latin America. She started her career in Janssen- La Jolla, California, and has held roles of increasing responsibility over 27 years spanning across Facilities and Procurement organizations within life sciences, manufacturing, and offices. In 2014, Banasha joined the FM Center of Excellence where she advanced the Global Supplier Governance program and led the Facilities Transformation, driving services strategies across 200+ sites. In recent years, Banasha enjoys being a coach and mentor for women starting their careers in facilities management, or engineering. She is part of the Northern California WIM Chapter Board and is active in local community activities and received her B.S. in Business Management from San Diego State University.

  Beacon Capital Partners

  Managing Director, Life Sciences

  Banasha King

  Managing Director, Life Sciences

  Beacon Capital Partners

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  Mark Romney

  Mr. Romney joined Blue Rise Ventures as a Senior Vice President in 2023, where he is leading the Business Development efforts focused on strategic industry partner recruitment. He spent the previous 32 years with the University of California, Davis, where he most recently served as the Chief Industry Alliance Officer for the University’s Aggie Square Innovation District. In that role, Mr. Romney was responsible for securing strategic industry partners to collocate with the university in the 1.2M SF initial phase. In addition, Mr. Romney was responsible for the ideation and master planning of Aggie Square, leveraging his experience in innovation district development, industry partner curation and facility master planning. Mr. Romney's expertise in innovation district development has made him a frequently asked guest speaker and panel moderator, and he is currently serving his second term on the Association of University Research Parks AURP National Board of Directors and Executive Council. In his free time, Mr. Romney enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf, and traveling.

  Blue Rise Ventures

  SVP

  Mark Romney

  SVP

  Blue Rise Ventures

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  Brian Hecktman

  Brian Hecktman is the Founding Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Graymark Capital. He has over 25 years of direct experience investing as a principal and working with institutional partners. Mr. Hecktman has completed over $3 billion of acquisitions in the life sciences, R&D, office, industrial and multifamily sectors. Since 2012, Mr. Hecktman has led Graymark Capital’s growth into a $2 billion real estate investment company with over 30 properties and 4 million square feet in major markets in the western United States. The company has focused on institutional quality life sciences, creative office and R&D projects appealing to today’s modern tenants. Major holdings are in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland and Austin. Prior to Graymark Capital, Mr. Hecktman served as the Senior Vice President of the Commercial Division for Fowler Property Acquisitions. Mr. Hecktman started the commercial division, building it into a 25-property, $400 million commercial portfolio in the western United States. Mr. Hecktman has a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in accountancy and finance from the University of Illinois. He is an active member of ULI and NAIOP and has served a number of community organizations, including Hands On San Francisco, Project Homeless Connect and SF Moderates.

  Graymark Capital

  Founder & CEO

  Brian Hecktman

  Founder & CEO

  Graymark Capital

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  Kris Barr

  VP

  McCarthy Building Companies

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  Kevin Norman

  Since joining DES over 35 years ago, Kevin has focused on technically challenging, cutting-edge life science laboratories, workspaces, and campuses. A natural problem-solver, he leads by example and takes a hands-on, active role in project work, yet prioritizes an open mind and listening to others before taking action. These qualities make him an excellent team builder and serve him well as DES Life Science Sector Leader. Kevin finds inspiration in supporting groundbreaking scientific research at any scale. Beyond his professional contribution to building communities, Kevin is actively involved in several organizations shaping a better future for all. He is Past President of the local American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) chapters, is an Executive Board member of the San Leandro Improvement Association (SLIA), participates in the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and currently serves on the board of the San Francisco/Bay Area Chapter of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE). Kevin's multifaceted contributions to the architecture and life sciences industries and his dedication to community engagement reflect his unwavering commitment to driving positive change and fostering innovation in the built environment.

  DES Architects

  Managing Principal

  Kevin Norman

  Managing Principal

  DES Architects

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  Mark Kol

  Mark has more than twenty years’ experience, providing high level consulting and advisory & transaction services to the I80/I880 East Bay community. He focuses on sale and leasing strategies for R&D, lab and office product, for both occupiers and owners alike. Mr. Kol’s deep market knowledge, combined with his investment banking background, supplies his clients with unique and creative solutions tailored to their individual needs. By leveraging the CBRE platform, and customizing the Company’s services to meet his clients’ needs, Mark is able to implement a sound real estate approach that maximizes value for his clients.

  CBRE

  EVP

  Moderator

  Mark Kol

  EVP

  CBRE

Opening Remarks

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  Mike Moran

  Mike is a leader and industry veteran in the San Francisco Bay Area’s commercial markets and provides services to institutional investors and select corporate tenants. Over his 35-year career, Mike has been involved in over $18B of lease and sale transactions totaling over 25msf. His expertise extends from ground up construction assignments to complicated land lease structures. Mike’s team excels in supporting their client’s design, marketing, PR, social media, leasing, and finance of their commercial real estate projects.

  CBRE

  Vice Chairman

  Mike Moran

  Vice Chairman

  CBRE