Dealmaker: JLL Arranges $310M for All-Electric Life Sciences Campus in California

(Illustration: Avia Labs at Millbrae Station, Millbrae, Calif.)

JLL, Chicago, arranged a $310 million construction loan for Avia Labs at Millbrae Station, a life sciences development in Millbrae, Calif.

Avia Labs at Millbrae Station will total 315,000 square feet at the Bart and Caltrain station in Millbrae. It represents the first all-electric life sciences development in California.

JLL represented borrower Longfellow Real Estate Partners, Boston, and secured the loan through Otera Capital, Montreal, Quebec. The JLL capital markets debt advisory team was led by Silicon Valley-based Senior Managing Director Jordan Angel, Director Lillian Roos and Analyst Pat Aslanian.

Longfellow broke ground on Avia Labs on March 1. When completed, the six-story Class A building will target LEED Gold and Fitwel healthy building certifications and emphasize both energy efficiency and quality of life for tenants.

The property will occupy 2.1 acres at 210 Adrian Rd. in Millbrae. JLL noted the North County submarket is extremely undersupplied with a vacancy rate of 1.8% as of late 2022, positioning Avia Labs at Millbrae Station well for lease-up. In addition, Avia Labs is directly adjacent to the Millbrae BART and CalTrain station and close to high-profile research institutions at Stanford, Berkeley and UC-San Francisco.

“Millbrae is the only transit station in the greater Bay Area where both BART and CalTrain come together in one station, providing an incredible opportunity for tenants to have public transit options to the East Bay, San Francisco, the Peninsula and Greater Silicon Valley, while being in the epicenter of one of the top life sciences markets in the world,” Angel said.