LifeSpace Labs co

May 21, 2023

Given their previous buildouts for synthetic biology company Zymergen Inc. and electric car pioneer Tesla Inc., you could forgive Dipesh Lad and Stephen Chien for yawning over an 8,600-square-foot Vacaville wet lab co-working space. But for them, the LifeSpace Labs project is as big as any.

LifeSpace Labs, Lad says, is aiming to retain spinouts from the University of California, Davis, 15 miles northeast, as well as attract life sciences startups from UC Berkeley, about 50 miles to the south, searching for cheaper space.

LifeSpace Labs is billed as the only wet lab co-working space along the I-80 corridor between Sacramento and Richmond. It offers about 50 lab benches, three private suites and office space with 25 desks. It will be client-ready by June 1, said Lad, its CEO.

Life sciences incubators popped up quickly across the Bay Area as venture capital funds and other investors fed a biotech boom over much of the past decade. MBC BioLabs and partner Dewey Land Co., for example, recently opened their fourth location, in San Francisco's Potrero Hill district, Johnson & Johnson's JLabs attracts startups to its South San Francisco site and privately operated Bay Area Disruptor And Startup Support — or BADASS — Labs runs two locations in Alameda.

But the I-80 corridor north of the immediate Bay Area is largely bereft of life sciences incubators, Lad said, despite a rich history as a biopharma hub, including Genentech Inc.'s giant manufacturing facility in Vacaville and Alza Corp., a 1,800-person company that made its drug-delivery systems in Vacaville until Johnson & Johnson closed the Vacaville site last year.

Agenus Inc. and Polaris Pharmaceuticals Inc. also have decided to site manufacturing there.

But the corridor has largely been bereft of space for life sciences startups.

"The hardest part of this was there was no lab space. Period," Lad said. "Most of the spaces are industrial. Landlords generally don't understand the life sciences, so you have to teach landlords what a fume hood is."

Finding and negotiating for a building for LifeSpace Labs provided more empathy for what startups go through, Lad said. "The process of finding space, even for someone with experience, was difficult. For these companies, time equals money," he said.

The $800-a-month cost for a lab bench, including utilities, shared equipment, cold storage and more compares to Bay Area incubator bench space for which Lad said lab bench costs can run up to $2,500.

Private lab suites are priced differently because of a number of variables, including what the tenant is doing, their needs from LifeSpace Labs and the amount of space they need, Lad said. Companies can commit for less than 12 months, Lad said, compared to three to five years with private landlords.

"It's only a 40-minute drive (from Berkeley) and you're saving a lot of money upfront," Lad said.

Little more than a year ago, Lad was the manager of construction for Zymergen, the fast-growing-fast-crashing synthetic biology company, overseeing five project managers in seven locations and managing the 300,000-square-foot buildout of Zymergen's headquarters offices and labs in Emeryville. Chien continues to work in facilities and project management at Zymergen after its sales and had overseen projects with Lad at Fremont-based Tesla.

LifeSpace Labs was built out at Lad and Chien's cost. There are no other investors.

"We understand the startup environment," Lad said. "We mention that to members: You can save money upfront because the construction costs a lot, then we're able to support you as you grow. We'll help you save money upfront and in the long run to spend money on research."