The news that BioMarin purchased the Marin Corporate Center in San Rafael is an indication of just how solid the biotech company is on its future in Marin. The news that nonprofit Tissue Banks International is moving across the San Rafael Bridge to Richmond is an indication that the county still has issues when it comes to accommodating growing organizations.
BioMarin bought the 315,000-square-foot corporate center for $116.5 million from San Rafael-based Seagate Properties and the deal closed in January 2014. The purchase price includes entitlements for two additional structures, an 89,000-square-foot office building and a parking structure.
In January 2013, BioMarin signed a 10-year lease for 120,000 square feet of space in the center and moved in 375 employees. It holds about 40 percent of the space in the center and is now the landlord.
At build out, the center was slated to have 406,000 square feet when it was approved in 1998 as the world headquarters of Fair Isaac Corp. But the company switched CEOs and remembered it was in the credit scoring business and not commercial real estate. It wrote the city of San Rafael a $2 million check to opt out of the project after gaining approvals and beginning construction. In 2000 Wilson/Equity Office, the largest office space player in the United States, took over the project.
A joint venture between Hines and Sterling American Properties bought the center and a trio of other properties for $329 million in 2005. Two years later, Seagate purchased the center—along with joint venture partner JPMorgan Investment Management—for $90.2 million.
BioMarin is a successful biopharmaceutical firm focused on producing drugs for the so-called orphan drug space. It expects an approval this year for Vimzim, a drug used to treat the childhood disease MPS IVA. Shares in BioMarin have been as high as $80 and as low as $53 over the last year. At this writing, the company has a market cap of $10.43 billion.
It’s frequently mentioned as a takeover candidate for larger pharmaceutical companies and stock analysts seem to jump around as much as BioMarin’s share price. Deutsche Bank had a target of $85 on the stock in January, while Barclays had the target at $73, down from $75. Nomura set the target at $75.
Tissue Banks International is taking its 90 employees and moving into a 59,000-square-foot office building in Richmond. The building is more than double the size of the nonprofit’s former home on Kerner Blvd. in San Rafael’s Canal district.
Tissue Banks stores skin, eyes and other body parts collected from deceased donors. The donations are prepared and preserved in specially designed labs and then the tissues are frozen for shipment to clinics, hospitals and so forth.
According a spokesperson for Tissue Banks, the organization hired a local realtor and searched the North Bay, including Sonoma County, for a new home, but couldn’t find a building that fit its criteria. The company declined to say how much the purchase of its new building cost, and no one associated with the transaction would comment.
The organization worked with BB&T bank to secure financing for the acquisition as well as California Municipal Finance Authority, which issued bonds in connection with the transaction.
Before making the move from Marin to Richmond, the company also surveyed its employees and discovered that a majority of them lived in the East Bay, so the Richmond location made better sense.
Historically, Marin has had a difficult time holding growing businesses. Everything from a lack of affordable space to difficult commute patterns and Marin’s slow-moving planning process have been named as the reasons companies have left.
For the most part, businesses taking their leave headed north for Sonoma County. But in recent years, the East Bay has become more competitive and attractive for businesses looking to grow.
Your Marin moment
It’s coming down to the short strokes for Drakes Bay Oyster Co. after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied a petition in January for an en banc rehearing of the September 2013 decision against the seafood farming operation.
Owner Kevin Lunny has vowed to take the case to the only place left, the U.S. Supreme Court. It remains to be seen whether the court will elect to hear the case.
The oyster farm filed a motion with the 9th Circuit so that it can continue to stay open while preparing its brief for its Supreme Court appeal. The stay was granted on January 27 for 90 days. The motion noted that the three-judge panel that denied its petition was split over whether it had the jurisdiction to take up the case. Specifically, the issue was, “jurisdiction to review discretionary agency actions when the agency has not issued regulations governing the issuance of a permit.”
The saga of Drakes Bay closing has been brewing for years, but moved into the final innings when U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected a preliminary injunction to halt closure of Drakes. In November 2012, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar served notice that Lunny’s original lease on Tomales Bay was going to be allowed to expire.
In September 2013, a three-judge panel at the 9th Circuit ruled it lacked the jurisdiction to review the decision by Salazar, and Lunny appealed for the en banc hearing.
The fight over whether Drakes Bay should be allowed to continue to operate in the Point Reyes National Seashore has torn the community apart in ways seldom seen in Marin and Sonoma counties. Opponents argue that Tomales Bay is designated as wilderness and is no place for a business. Proponents say that an oyster company has historically operated in the waters for decades and that Drakes Bay is an example of sustainable aquaculture.
Guess we’ll see how the Supremes feel about oysters.
