The Pacific Center is a life science campus located in San Diego’s Sorrento Mesa neighborhood that completed its first phase in May 2025, delivering four buildings totaling about 690,000 square feet of lab, office, and amenity space, according to a BNBuilders announcement. Phase II construction, covering a 279,000 square foot building, is now underway.

Pacific Center Faces Leasing Headwinds Despite Delivery

Despite reaching completion, Pacific Center has struggled to attract tenants as life science demand cooled, with Sorrento Mesa vacancy climbing above 35 percent and Bank OZK’s original construction loan later sold as part of a nonperforming debt package. That contrasts with medical distribution demand elsewhere in the state, where Medline moved quickly to lease a 1 million square foot Perris facility after a warehouse fire, underscoring how uneven California’s commercial real estate recovery has been by sector.

Project Overview

• Project Name: Pacific Center
• Location: Sorrento Mesa, San Diego, California
• Project Value: $650 million full campus buildout, financed in part by a $265 million Bank OZK construction loan for Phase I
• Client/Owner: Sterling Bay and Harrison Street (joint venture)
• Main Contractor: BNBuilders
• Key Components: Five building life science campus; Phase I delivered two lab and office buildings, a 12 story parking structure, and a mass timber amenity center; Phase II adds a 279,000 square foot building
• Procurement Model: Speculative development phased over four years
• Construction Start: Broke ground in 2023
• Strategic Impact: Phase I completion in 2025 was followed by soft leasing and the sale of the project’s construction loan as nonperforming debt

Project Team

• Client/Owner: Sterling Bay
• Client/Owner: Harrison Street
• Main Contractor: BNBuilders
• Architect: Gensler
• Original Lender: Bank OZK
• Sustainability and MEP Consultant: EXP

Reported 4th June 2023: US$265 million construction credit has been secured for the construction of the Pacific Center Life Science facility in San Diego. This was announced by the joint venture between Sterling Bay, a leading development firm, and Harrison Street.

Previously, Sterling Bay and Harrison Street collaborated on life sciences projects all around the nation. This includes about 1 million square feet of recently finished lab space in Chicago and San Diego. Additionally, Denver, Philadelphia, and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina are on the duo’s itinerary. With a $20 billion development pipeline, Sterling also invests in residential, commercial, and creative office properties.

The credit from Bank OZK (OZK) which engages in the provision of community banking services through over 240 offices in eight states.

Overview of the Pacific Center Life Science facility in San Diego

The Pacific Center Life Science facility in San Diego is designed by Gensler. It features a 1,700-place parking complex and a 28,000-square-foot leisure centre in addition to 500,000 square feet of research space. The first phase of the project is currently under construction. It is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2027. In the Sorrento Mesa neighbourhood, the remaining $650 million complex will be finished during the ensuing four years.

Three lab buildings will be arranged around a central plaza in the whole five-structure development at 5975 Pacific Mesa Court. Additionally, a mass-timber amenities centre is in the plans for the facility.

Also Read: University of Pittsburgh Pitt Life Sciences Building in Pennsylvania opened

According to CBRE, San Diego, one of the leading life sciences markets in the country, has a 5.6% vacancy rate after the first quarter of this year.  According to a CBRE analysis, the average asking rent in the market has risen significantly over the past ten years. In central San Diego is currently at $6.46 per square foot, just shy of the record high of $6.57.

The demand for contemporary, highly-amenitized research space is at an all-time high in San Diego, according to Andy Gloor, CEO of Sterling Bay.