Situation   In October 2021, Longfellow acquired the site of Avia Labs at 210 Adrian Road in Millbrae, California. The 2.07-acre parcel was previously home to a self-storage facility and marked the seventh property acquired by Longfellow in the San Francisco Bay Area. The location is highlighted by its high multimodal accessibility, just steps away from the Millbrae Transit Station, one of the largest transit hubs on the West Coast and serves the CalTrain and BART Stations, as well as sitting just minutes away from San Francisco International Airport and Highway 101. The attractive, transit-oriented location was only further bolstered by the City of Millbrae’s commitment to developing itself as a burgeoning submarket for the life sciences in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, visitors can see that commitment coming to life around Avia Labs with a huge influx of positive, mixed-use development projects that continue to drive the progress of the community.

Solution   Since acquisition, the self-storage facility was razed to make way for Avia Labs and its revolutionary design. Longfellow’s Design & Construction team, along with third party contractors, began designing what will become one of the first all-electric life science campuses in California. In addition to its all-electric design, the project has targeted LEED Gold and Fitwell Certifications, putting the health and well-being of partners and the community top of mind. To properly support the future tenants of Avia Labs, the development is being built with warm shell infrastructure and flexible floorplates ranging from 20,000 – 80,000 square feet, which will enhance the collaborative spirit of those innovative companies and individuals. Longfellow’s ground-up design emphasizes not only energy efficiency but quality of life for tenants who will benefit from natural light reaching all sides of the buildings, and access to a suite of campus amenities: including a fitness center, large conference spaces, bike storage, a terrace overlooking the city with beautiful mountain views and a publicly accessible café to welcome members of the Bay Area community

Results   Recently, the Avia Labs team celebrated its topping out ceremony in Q2 2024 and is on schedule to deliver to the market in Q2 2025. Upon completion, Avia Labs will help support one of the fastest growing, up and coming submarkets in the highly innovative region of the Peninsula. With close proximity to world-class companies, renowned universities, and top talent, Avia Labs is primed to provide the innovative space for companies and their teams to connect, collaborate, and achieve life-changing breakthroughs. Longfellow successfully negotiated a land exchange with the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) that involved cross-collaboration with multiple public agencies including BART, the Federal Transportation Agency (FTA), and the City of Millbrae. The land exchange was essential in satisfying a condition of entitlements approval and enabled the Longfellow team to improve site access and circulation without compromising project density. The partnership that was built with BART throughout this process allowed for us to successfully execute a land exchange agreement, grant of right-of-way easement, and a lot line adjustment on an expedited timeline.

Avia Labs marks a milestone in Longfellow’s continued growth in the Bay Area since its entry to the market in 2018. With over 2.5 million square feet of existing space and another 2.5+ million square feet of development in the pipeline, Longfellow has key developments throughout the Bay Area in locations such as Palo Alto, Redwood City, and San Francisco.