A Bay Area real estate firm that specializes in life science, medical and research-and-development properties has appointed two executives to new roles as the region faces a high and rising vacancy rate in the sector.
Wareham Development, based in Marin County, has tapped a 27-year veteran of the firm, Judy Wetterer, as director of community relations. Wetterer’s focus is to identify and manage opportunities for public engagement, the company said in a press release. In this role, she’ll coordinate volunteer initiatives and plan community events.
Wetterer has served as Wareham’s director of marketing and communications since 1998, according to her LinkedIn page.
Jennifer Barrett, meanwhile, has joined the firm to fill the marketing and communications role to “oversee Wareham’s presence and engagement in the marketplace.” Barrett has served in marketing and communications roles at real estate companies in the Bay Area for more than 20 years, including the Sares Regis Group, Brookfield Properties and Greystar. At Wareham, she is responsible for developing corporate messaging for the firm and directing brand consistency through media and public relations.
Wareham, based in San Rafael, California, is partly responsible for establishing the East Bay as a life sciences hub and remains a major player there, with about 800,000 square feet of R&D space in Berkeley alone. Wareham billed its Aquatic Park Research Campus, which spans 16 buildings on the waterfront, as “an international hub” for research headquarters.
Now, however, the region is facing a glut of empty properties — like other biotech centers that witnessed overbuilding in response to exploding demand for life sciences real estate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, as investors scrambled to get a piece of the biotech boom, the life sciences vacancy rate in the Bay Area was hovering at around 2%.
Now the picture is quite different, with the vacancy rate approaching 47%, according to recent research from CBRE.
More than 220 life science properties across the United States are empty, Travis McCready, JLL’s head of life sciences for the Americas, recently told CoStar News.
“There is just a huge disconnect between the supply and demand right now,” Conor Ranahan, a managing director at Newmark who specializes in life sciences properties, previously told CoStar News.
Wareham has developed or invested in life science and research campuses in Berkeley, Emeryville, Palo Alto, Richmond and Marin County. Its portfolio encompasses 4 million square feet across multitenant research campuses, according to the firm.
Its tenants range from international corporations to startups, and the company has been recognized for its philanthropy in the Bay Area business community, particularly by supporting East Bay STEM education efforts.