1305 O’Brien Drive

While the 1305 O’Brien Drive site was not part of the Tarlton portfolio for many years, having been sold to a user, the team was excited to re-acquire the site in 2015. The site and building have since been redeveloped for our life science tenant PacBio.

The process of turning a warehouse distribution center into a state-of-the-art life science research and development facility presented us with some unique opportunities.

To begin, we were able to substantially improve the property’s curb appeal (and elevate the entire neighborhood) by adding a stunning entryway to the building’s facade. We continued the property’s aesthetic transformation with the addition of a large central lobby in the entrance, lending a dramatic feeling to every arrival.

We were also able to be thoughtful in our design of the lab and office facilities. We balanced out the rectilinear design of the labs and offices on either side of the building with a circular design in the interior, and added entrances on multiple sides of the building.

Over the course of the project, several engineering challenges arose that required innovative thinking from our team. Most notably, it became clear that the originally constructed roof wouldn’t be able to accommodate the load of the extensive mechanical systems and distribution PacBio needed to operate their laboratories and manufacturing.

Our design and construction team leveraged and reinforced the existing columns and structures to build a 20,000 square foot platform on the roof to support the weight of the mechanical equipment. Underneath the roof, we constructed a 60,000 square foot steel superstructure to allow us to carry the distribution load of all the systems required to support lab and manufacturing operations.

All told, the entire project took just 14 months. PacBio was able to begin transitioning into the facility at 1305 O’Brien Drive by Q4 2016, and became fully operational in Q1 2017.

Added bonus: we were able to maximize utilization of the site’s square footage by eliminating two bays on the north end of the building that weren’t needed for PacBio, giving us additional room to develop our 1350 Adams Court Project. This site is currently being developed as a second 260,000 square foot headquarters facility to be delivered in 2023.