Seaport Centre

Last updated
Seaport Centre
Seaport Centre Logo.png
Seaport Centre Logo
Location Redwood City, California
Coordinates 37°30′06″N122°13′03″W / 37.50155°N 122.21747°W / 37.50155; -122.21747
Opening date1980s
Owner Segro
Website www.seaportcentre.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Seaport Centre is a high-tech business park located in Redwood City, California, United States, and as of 2007 is one of the largest biotechnology research complexes in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Contents

The property consists of 623,000 square feet (57,900 m2) of developed building area, and is situated in proximity to the Port of Redwood City. [1] The property is classified as Class A office space and is constructed as a series of separate buildings. The original lands of the Seaport Centre were used as salt evaporation ponds on tidal lands of the San Francisco Bay, a land use that started sometime prior to 1940. As of 2002 leasing rates at Seaport Centre were in the range of $27 per square foot per annum. [2] In 2005, Slough Estates, a United Kingdom-based REIT, purchased the entirety of Seaport Centre to develop it as a biotechnology research center to compete with the existing biotech hubs in Silicon Valley and South San Francisco.

The Seaport Centre is located on generally level ground at approximately 25 feet (8 m) above mean sea level. [3] Stormwater surface runoff is pumped from Seaport Centre to discharge into Redwood Creek.

Aerial photographic history

Due to the large scale of this area and its historical lack of accessibility, the area history can be revealed well with aerial photographic records. In 1989, the firm of Earth Metrics Incorporated conducted a review of historic aerial photographs dating back to 1956.(Earth Metrics, 1989) The Seaport Centre site and its environs, as of the 1956 aerial stereo photo, were essentially undeveloped, although extensive salt evaporation ponds were evident on site. Redwood City Planning Department records confirm that the site was used for salt evaporation since sometime prior to World War II.

Analysis of five sets of time staged stereo pairs of aerial photos reveal that the Seaport Centre site remained undeveloped until 1982; up until that time, city records show that the site was zoned as "Tidal Plain", a designation not allowing urban development. Area land use gradually changed from 1956 until 1982, in the form of gradual building development in the local area. As early as 1956 a rail spur is evident, which served the loading of raw sea salt for export from the area. No agricultural history is associated with the site, other than the salt harvesting. [4]

Tenants

Since development of Seaport Centre in the early 1980s there has been a consistent trend of the property's use as a research and development hub for the biotech industry. In a 1989 tenant survey, some of the principal tenants present were: Vascualar Interventions Inc., Genelabs Incorporated, Precision Images Inc., Invitron, Charles Evans Inc., ICT Corporation, Resound Incorporated, Ideon Corporation, Cygnus Research Corp, Color Prep, Aurora Systems Inc., Abekas Video Systems Inc., Personics Inc., Instor Corporation and Visucom, Inc.

A number of these early firms utilized a variety of hazardous materials in their normal processes. These substances included a variety of toxic solvents and other organic chemicals such as acetone, benzene, methyl ethyl ketone and toluene. Use of such chemicals on site is considered a risk, since the brackish groundwater at the Seaport Centre is shallow.

Current tenants still largely focus on the medical and health fields and include: AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Bavarian Nordic, Codexis, Genomic Health, Guardant Health, Gynesonics, Minerva Surgical, OncoMed, Stem Cell Theranostics, and Teva.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redwood Shores, California</span> Place in California, United States

Redwood Shores is a waterfront community in Redwood City, California, along the western shore of San Francisco Bay on the San Francisco Peninsula in San Mateo County. Redwood Shores is the home of several major technology companies, including Oracle Corporation, Electronic Arts, Nintendo, Zuora, Qualys, Crystal Dynamics and Shutterfly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salt evaporation pond</span> Shallow artificial pond designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines,

A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The salt pans are shallow and expansive, allowing sunlight to penetrate and reach the seawater. Natural salt pans are formed through geologic processes, where evaporating water leaves behind salt deposits. Some salt evaporation ponds are only slightly modified from their natural version, such as the ponds on Great Inagua in the Bahamas, or the ponds in Jasiira, a few kilometres south of Mogadishu, where seawater is trapped and left to evaporate in the sun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humboldt Bay</span> Bay on the North Coast of California

Humboldt Bay is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, United States. It is the largest protected body of water on the West Coast between San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound, the second-largest enclosed bay in California, and the largest port between San Francisco and Coos Bay, Oregon. The largest city adjoining the bay is Eureka, the regional center and county seat of Humboldt County, followed by the city of Arcata. These primary cities, together with adjoining unincorporated communities and several small towns, comprise a Humboldt Bay Area with a total population of nearly 80,000 people. This comprises nearly 60% of the population of Humboldt County. The bay is home to more than 100 plant species, 300 invertebrate species, 100 fish species, and 200 bird species. In addition, the bay and its complex system of marshes and grasses support hundreds of thousands of migrating and local shore birds. Commercially, this second-largest estuary in California is the site of the largest oyster production operations on the West Coast, producing more than half of all oysters farmed in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bair Island</span> Swamp in Redwood City, San Mateo County, United States

Bair Island is a marsh area in Redwood City, California, covering 3,000 acres (1,200 ha), and includes three islands: Inner, Middle and Outer islands. Bair Island is part of the larger Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It is surrounded by the Steinberger slough to the northwest and Redwood Creek to the southeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine World/Africa USA</span> Zoo in California, United States

Marine World/Africa USA was an animal theme park located in the Redwood Shores area of Redwood City, California. The park was named Marine World when it first opened in 1968, before merging with a land-animal park called Africa USA in 1972. In 1986, the park relocated to Vallejo, California, and is now known as Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seal Slough</span>

Seal Slough, also known as Marina Lagoon, is a narrow winding tidal channel through a tidal marsh in San Mateo and Foster City, California. This slough has been the object of a wetland restoration project in recent years to enhance habitat value. Dredging has been carried out in Seal Slough since at least 1954. When the original sewage treatment plant for the city of San Mateo was constructed in 1935, its discharge was directed to Seal Slough.

Cordelia Slough is a 10.8-mile-long (17.4 km) tidal watercourse which discharges to the Suisun Slough, which in turn empties into Grizzly Bay in Solano County, California. The Suisun Slough, fed by the Green Valley Creek and Red Top Creek, provides a productive habitat for a diversity of aquatic flora and fauna. In particular steelhead migrate up Cordelia Slough to spawn in its two tributaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port of Redwood City</span> Port in the San Francisco Bay

The Port of Redwood City is a marine freight terminal on the western side of the southern San Francisco Bay, on the West Coast of the United States. This marine terminal is situated within the city of Redwood City, California. The port was developed from a natural deepwater channel discovered in the year 1850, at the mouth of Redwood Creek. From the early use as a log float port, commercial use expanded to a variety of industrial commodities; moreover, it is considered the birthplace of shipbuilding on the North American west coast. As of 2004 the annual freight shipments have reached about two million metric tons. The Port of Redwood City provides berths for dry bulk, liquid bulk, and project cargoes, along with certain recreational opportunities and public access to San Francisco Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redwood Creek (San Mateo County)</span> River in California, United States

Redwood Creek is a 9.5-mile-long (15.3 km) perennial stream located in San Mateo County, California, United States which discharges into South San Francisco Bay. The Port of Redwood City, the largest deepwater port in South San Francisco Bay, is situated on the east bank of Redwood Creek near its mouth, where the creek becomes a natural deepwater channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mowry Slough</span>

Mowry Slough is a 5.8-mile-long (9.3 km) slough in Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge and is the primary breeding ground for San Francisco Bay harbor seals. It is situated among the salt marshes and salt evaporation ponds in the city of Fremont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrography of the San Francisco Bay Area</span> Waterways and watersheds draining into the bay or Pacific Ocean

The Hydrography of the San Francisco Bay Area is a complex network of watersheds, marshes, rivers, creeks, reservoirs, and bays predominantly draining into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberts Landing, California</span> Former settlement in California, United States

Roberts Landing was a settlement in Alameda County, California, now incorporated into the town of San Leandro. It is located at the mouth of San Lorenzo Creek on San Francisco Bay just west of the community of San Lorenzo. In the 19th century, it had warehouses and a wharf, and was used by farmers to ship their produce to the city of San Francisco. From 1906 to 1964, it was the site of an explosives manufacturing plant operated by the Trojan Powder Company. Following the plant's closure, the site was decontaminated. After protracted discussions, part was made into a housing development while a larger part was made an open space that is now also called the San Leandro Shoreline Marshlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe Creek (Santa Clara County)</span> Stream in Santa Clara County, California

Adobe Creek, historically San Antonio Creek, is a 14.2-mile-long (22.9 km) northward-flowing stream originating on Black Mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It courses through the cities of Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, and Palo Alto on its way to the Palo Alto Flood Basin and thence to southwestern San Francisco Bay in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Historically, Adobe Creek was a perennial stream and hosted runs of steelhead trout entering from the Bay, but these salmonids are now blocked by numerous flood control structures, including a tidal gate at the creek's mouth and a long concretized rectangular channel culminating in an impassable drop structure at El Camino Real. The co-founders of Adobe Systems both lived on Adobe Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belmont Slough</span> River in California, United States

Belmont Slough is a slough on the western shore of San Francisco Bay separating Redwood Shores and Foster City. It provides estuarine and marine deepwater habitats in its subtidal waters, which are characterized as brackish and saltwater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charleston Slough</span>

Charleston Slough is a former Leslie salt pond that is now reverting to marsh on the western shore of San Francisco Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westpoint Harbor</span> Port in United States

Westpoint Harbor is a marina that opened in 2008 at the mouth of the Westpoint Slough located in Redwood City, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greco Island</span> Island in California, United States

Greco Island is a wetland island in Redwood City, California. Greco Island is part of the larger Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Westpoint Slough follows the South side of the island while Redwood Creek is along the West. The San Francisco Bay bounds the North and East sides of the island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Shores Center</span>

Pacific Shores Center is a high-tech business park located in Redwood City, California, adjacent to the Port of Redwood City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laguna Creek watershed</span> River in California, United States

The Laguna Creek watershed consists of 25.1 square miles (100 km2) of land within northern California's Alameda County. The watershed drains the foothills of the Diablo Range south of Niles Canyon. To the southeast, the area of Mission Peak Regional Preserve around Mission Peak is included. Agua Caliente, Canada del Aliso, Mission, Morrison, Sabercat, Vargas, and Washington creeks drain the area of the watershed. They drain into Laguna Creek and eventually Mud Slough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds</span> Salt evaporation ponds in the San Francisco Bay in California

The San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds are a roughly 16,500-acre (6,700 ha) part of the San Francisco Bay that have been used as salt evaporation ponds since the California Gold Rush era. Most of the ponds were once wetlands in the cities of Redwood City, Newark, and Hayward, and other parts of the bay.

References

  1. Cutland, Laura (7 July 2005). "Peninsula biotech gets a boost". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  2. Ginsberg, Steve (24 February 2002). "Low-profile projects help Catellus in `lumpy' 2002". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  3. Schemel, Laurence E. (June 1995). "Supporting Data For Hydrologic Studies in San Francisco Bay" (PDF). United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  4. Conomos, T. John (1979). San Francisco Bay : The Urbanized Estuary . San Francisco, Calif: The Division. ISBN   0-934394-01-6.