Not so long ago, when the construction of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging was debated at volumes worthy of a Metallica rehearsal, one of the arguments went that if the Buck was built, biotech companies would cluster in Marin in the same way McMansions dot Tiburon. There were folks on both sides of that argument as well as those who believed the center would never emerge in Novato.
Today, BioMarin Pharmaceutical seems on the verge of pushing the forest of for-lease signs out of Novato’s Bel Marin Keys. Raptor Pharmaceuticals is right in the same neighborhood, and the Marin Economic Forum Spring bulletin recently opined that the biotech sector could be a realistic base for the Marin economy to grow on.
As if on cue, BioMarin alum Emil Kakkis is lining up dollars for his company, Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, a firm dedicated to developing drugs to treat rare diseases, the niche known in the business as orphan drugs [See “Age of Understanding,” June 2010]. It’s essentially the same competitive space that both BioMarin and Raptor play in, though it’s unlikely the trio of companies would ever be working on the same project.
Kakkis, former chief medical officer at BioMarin, is putting talent together for his startup as well as talking to investors for a first round of funding. The Ultragenyx game plan is under wraps, although the company has been upfront about locating in Novato. If all goes well, it could staff up to the century mark in the next three years.
City moves downtown
The city of Novato ended months of debate and indecision by deciding to let the Barker Pacific Group find somebody else to buy 75 Rowland Avenue. Instead, the city will build new offices downtown on Machin Avenue, in the same area as the cop shop and the reconstructed City Hall.
The move makes sense for Novato on a number of fronts. To begin with, the rumor that wouldn’t go away is that the city couldn’t afford the $17.5 million price tag that Barker Pacific wanted for the 81,000-square-foot office building. Another reason the city passed was that it would be years—if ever—before it could fill the building, putting Novato in the position of having to sublease the space. While there are things that cities can excel at, playing leasing agent isn’t one of them.
There was an option of developing a building at the junction of Highway 101 and Highway 37 on land known locally as the McPhail site. The total cost would have been less than $8 million, but the city council felt the site lacked many things, including access to public transit, gravitas and, possibly, safety in the event of a big shake.
The new downtown project is slated to be a little more than 21,000 square feet with 26 parking spaces, and to run someplace between $12 million and $15 million depending on how the city finances it and when it can get shovels in the ground. Novato is hoping to begin building it next May, with the doors open in 2013.
But it seems nothing is ever easy when it comes to downtown Novato. The Downtown Novato Business Association is concerned that the project won’t make the most of parking, and a new city office and the 60 employees who will come with it won’t put enough sugar in the downtown merchants’ bowl. “Don’t get me wrong, I think the restaurants will welcome the extra people. But you have to remember it’s only open four days a week,” says Jayne Belote, the association’s executive director.
The relationship between the city and the downtown merchants is, at best, uneven. “We helped elect these people, and the city council gets to make the decision on how this gets done,” Belote says. “So we just have to hope they hear us and that we have some influence, and you need to have confidence that they’ll make a good decision.”
The association is looking for the city to get creative in the name of bringing people downtown. Belote would like to see the city put retail space on the first floor and offices above that. Her suggestion would bring more retail downtown, generate more sales tax for the city and make more use of the property.
It makes sense…so, of course, it’s a long shot.
Marin General tosses in with Sonoma Valley
At a time when hospitals going solo are almost unheard of, Marin General Hospital is a babe in the woods after a nasty split from Sutter Health. But now, the Marin Healthcare District has inked a deal with Sonoma Valley Hospital to share management services.
Negotiations have been going on since the end of last summer on the agreement that will help the two hospital districts lower costs. By aligning their interests, the two hospitals will be able to negotiate better deals with insurance companies and explore ways to lower administrative costs and overhead.
Pour a little more
Novato gave the green light to Andy and Liz Podshadley to open their Trek Winery downtown. The Podshadleys’ idea is to not only have a wine bar and tasting room, but actually make wine in the building that’s the former home to Tresch Electric, an appliance store.
The couple hopes to open in September with a main space for tasting as well as retail sales. The urban winery will include a patio and garden. Trek plans on hosting community events and will also have a private tasting room. Besides its own wine, it will feature wines from local, small-production winemakers.
Trek now produces 2,000 cases of wine per year, including Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The winery’s retail operation is cleared to operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the tasting room open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Bill Meagher is contributing editor at NorthBay biz. He has every intention of sampling Trek’s wines, and he’s doing his best to stay away from Marin General. You can reach him at bmeagher@northbaybiz.com.
