Want to know the likely location of the new, permanent headquarters of the California Insitute of Regenerative Medicine? Ask the new president?
San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles – all are battling for the 15,000-square foot facility with 50 employees. Tiny in corporate space terms, but meaningful is the word.
Incentives are being bandied about. Free rent and the like. But is San Diego going to come up with a package similar to that provided to the Chargers football team? Not likely. The city fathers in San Diego put their cash where they think it is important – football -- not stem cells.
The whole competition is probably moot. A study some time ago on corporate location decisions determined that the key factor is where the chief executive wants to live. And that person is the yet to be selected. You can bet that Robert Klein, chairman of CIRM, will want to hold out the location of CIRM's permanent headquarters as a recruitment tool for the CEO that he is seeking.
Of course, if Klein really wants to be in total control of the agency, he may deem that it is necessary for the headquarters to be very close to his real estate operations in Palo Alto, which makes a lot of sense anyway.
Any sensible CEO would choose a location in the San Diego area. The weather is much better as are living conditions, compared to the Bay Area. Forget Los Angeles totally. Regarding Sacramento (where I used to live), what can you say about a city known as the Big Tomato?
As for the temporary headquarters, Klein should select a site close to his firm in Palo Alto. Given that he is the engine on all this, there is no point in the interim offices being any distance from his normal location. He can't lease his own space to the institute. It would look bad. So rent something in San Mateo, Redwood City or other nearby location for a starter. Actually, given the nature of the institute, Klein should find a public-minded enterprise to provide the interim space free – let's say the Center for Genetics and Society in Oakland.
Here are links to stories on HQ location issue: San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union Tribune, The Associated Press. The Los Angeles Times and The Sacramento Bee web sites show no staff stories on the latest on the HQ process. If you know of other sites with stories on the matter, please send them along to djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.
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