Wareham Development has ditched plans to turn a historic rock-n-roll music studio in Berkeley into life sciences research labs, opting to put the 121,200-square-foot campus up for sale.
The San Rafael-based life sciences developer has listed the former Fantasy Studios complex containing a seven-story building and a two-story annex at 2600 Tenth Street, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The asking price was not disclosed.
The legendary recording studios, known as “The House That Creedence Built,” once hosted Creedence Clearwater Revival, Green Day, Santana, Journey and Joan Baez. Its former owner, Saul Zaentz, produced “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
Fantasy Studios closed in 2018, and Wareham listed the property for an undisclosed price, before pulling it from the market. The offices are now home to the Berkeley Film Foundation, created in part by Wareham’s founder, Rich Robbins.
Robbins bought the studio buildings and rights to the Fantasy Studios name in 2007 for $20 million. It’s not clear if the name rights will stay with the building, or with Robbins.
Two years ago, the developer had filed plans to convert the two-story annex into research labs, according to the Business Times, after converting 20,000 square feet of its former studios.
Last year, a Berkeley zoning board ruled against the conversion, citing the property’s cultural significance. Wareham appealed, and the City Council voted to overturn the ruling, clearing the way for redevelopment.
The buildings are well-suited for research and development, and would benefit from recent zoning changes that support R&D use, according to JLL, which is listing the property.
Late last year, Berkeley streamlined its permitting to encourage R&D and cut red tape for labs in Downtown and along key corridors to host Berkeley-founded startups and boost the local economy.
Wareham Development, founded by Robbins in 1977, largely pioneered the East Bay as a life sciences hub, according to the Business Times, and has 800,000 square feet of R&D offices across town.
Over the past five years, the city’s life sciences research offices have more than doubled, as demand and venture capital funding surged. But then VC funding and demand declined, while R&D vacancy increased.
By last year, a cooling life sciences market had put 9 million square feet of entitled offices and labs on hold as developers waited out the bust. In the quarter ending in June, the Bay Area’s once-booming 41.5 million-square-foot life sciences market was 24.6 percent vacant, according to CBRE.
— Dana Bartholomew
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