Behind every pharmaceutical megafirm headquarters is a story that warms the cockles of the heart: Gather 'round for the tale of Pfizer, which last week announced they would be moving in to new digs at Mission Bay Boulevard, South. The drug company had been hoping to merge intellectual zygotes with UCSF's research facility for some time, and wanted a good site nearby. Before they ended up at the Alexandria property, they scoped China Basin Landing at 185 Berry Street, which was finishing up a 175,000-square-foot expansion. It was close to UCSF, but evidently not close enough, and they weren't about to do the long-distance thing ("15-minute walk? How ridic!"). Instead, they inked a deal with Alexandria to move in on just the other side of the UCSF Mission Bay campus — the city was all too happy to have more biotech in Mission Bay, and they all lived happily ever after.
· How San Francisco caught Pfizer [SF Business Times]
· Pfizer's New Digs at Mission Bay [Curbed SF]
[Rendering courtesy Alexandria Mission Bay]