Daily Business Report-Feb. 2, 2016
2015 San Diego life sciences industry continued to build on momentum from 2014.
JLL Report: San Diego Life Sciences
Market Continues Big Growth
Over the past 12 months, more than 800,000 square feet of office buildings have been acquired by life science landlords, who are actively re-positioning these assets into new Class A wet lab facilities, according to JLL San Diego’s just released Life Sciences Outlook.
To date, approximately one-half of this new inventory has already been leased.
Highlights of the report:
• After a strong 2014 that saw record leasing activity and healthy rent growth, 2015 continued to build on the momentum from the prior year with 1.7 million square feet of gross leasing activity, a 31 percent increase from the five-year annual average.
• Transactions for new build-to-suit facilities have reached rents in the mid- $4 per square foot NNN range, a 10-15 percent increase from the end of 2014. Likewise, rates for second-generation Class A lab space have increased. Starting rents for deals signed at the end of 2015 ranged from the mid-$3 to low $4 per square foot NNN, an increase of approximately 10 percent during the year.
• San Diego biotech companies secured $149 million in venture capital funding among 11 deals — a 24 percent decrease from the prior quarter but a 172 percent increase from the fourth quarter 2014. San Diego trailed only San Francisco and Boston/Cambridge in terms of VC invested into biotech during Q4-2015.
The San Diego life sciences market continues to be a major player both nationally and globally. The region is home to more than 600 life sciences companies and over 80 research institutes that employee around 50,000 people.
The city is known for having a highly talented workforce which has helped to make it a critical R&D hub to companies like Celgene, Eli Lilly, Takeda and Pfizer. Sector employment grew by 6.6 percent during 2015, the highest posted growth rate for the local industry since 2005 and the highest growth rate among the region’s major industries during 2015.
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UC San Diego Researchers Make
Tentative C-Section Discovery
City News Service
Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine announced Monday a tentative discovery into how babies born by Caesarean section become vulnerable to certain medical conditions.
Their study of 18 babies, in partnership with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, found that newborns born via C-section don’t receive microbes from their mothers’ vaginas. The research, which appears in the journal Nature Medicine, suggests that such microbes help develop immune systems in babies.
Previous research suggested a link between C-section delivery and increased subsequent risk of obesity, asthma, allergies, atopic disease and other immune deficiencies, according to the scientists. Many of those diseases have been linked to the microbiome, though the role a newborn’s microbiome plays in current or long-term health is not yet well-understood.
“When my own child was born by unplanned C-section, we took matters into our own hands to see to it that she was exposed to vaginal microbes,” said Rob Knight, a professor of pediatrics, computer science and engineering at UC San Diego.
“She is now 4 years old and healthy, but that was an uncontrolled experiment of one and so we can’t tell whether it had an effect from a scientific perspective,” said Knight, who is also director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation.
“This study now starts to prove that the effect exists, telling us that some of those vaginal microbes probably do stick around when transferred to a baby born by C-section, at least for the first month of life,” he said.
Knight said other research suggests that microbiome differences between vaginal and C-section babies can persist for years.
Adelaide’s of La Jolla Expected
To Flower Under New Owners
Larry Anhorn and Jerry Parent have completed the acquisition of Adelaide’s of La Jolla, a flower shop celebrating its 80th year in business.
Adelaide’s was founded in 1936 as a roadside stand in Encinitas by Adelaide Phillips with a $6 investment. It grew quickly, opening at the current location in 1945.
While the Phillips family sold the company in 2010, the new owners remained behind the scenes and allowed Anhorn and Parent to put their creative vision to work. Larry and Jerry acquired partial ownership in 2015 and completed the sale on Jan. 31.
Anhorn and Parent entered the floral scene in San Diego in 1995 with the creation of their Bankers Hill and ultimately Hillcrest European-styled floral and event company — FloraStyle. Various consumer polls at the time always placed them neck-in-neck with Adelaide’s as the “Best Floral Company in San Diego.”
“We are proud and humbled to be the ones to carry-on Adelaide’s great name and reputation,” said Parent. “Our goal is to not only celebrate with the community her 80th year in business later this year, but her 100th year in 2036. Ultimately we want to make Adelaide and the communities of La Jolla and San Diego proud that her vision, and their support, were the true success story. We are simply the ones privileged to keep the creative engine running.”
Study Finds California Not
Dependent on Gun Industry
Times of San Diego
California is the sixth least dependent state on the gun industry, a study by personal finance website WalletHub revealed Monday.
To determine which states depend most on the arms and ammunitions industry both directly for jobs and political contributions and indirectly through firearm ownership, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across eight key metrics. The website said it conducted the analysis in light of President Barack Obama’s executive orders on gun control.
Here’s how California ranked in different areas (1=Most Dependent):
• 40th — Number of Firearms — Industry Jobs per Capita
• 37th — Total Firearms Industry Output per Capita
• 22nd — Total Taxes Paid by the Firearms Industry per Capita
• 43rd — Gun Ownership
• 42nd — NICS Background Checks per Capita
• 44th — Gun-Control Contributions to Congressional Members per Capita
• 39th — Gun-Rights Contributions to Congressional Members per Capita
For the full report, click here.
NAVY PHOTO OF THE DAY
Airship pilot Matthew St. John flies the Goodyear blimp over Naval Base San Diego. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communications Specialist 3rd Class Zachary Eshleman)
Personnel Announcements
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Names Julian Parra Regional Executive
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed Julian Parra Pacific Southwest region executive for Business Banking.
In this role, Parra will lead client relationship teams throughout California and Nevada to deliver strategic financial advice and solutions to help mid-sized companies grow, improve cash flow, manage U.S. and international payments, and invest for the future. Business Banking covers companies with $5 million to $50 million in annual sales.
Previously, Parra was the head of commercial banking for Southern California, where he led a team to provide Bank of America Merrill Lynch services to local middle market companies.
Parra has 27 years of commercial banking experience. He has held leadership roles in finance, marketing, product management and product development. He joined Bank of America in 1989.
