BioMed Realty Buys Seattle’s Denny Park South

BioMed Realty has acquired Denny Park South in Seattle, a 1.6-acre development site in the South Lake Union/Denny Triangle district. The two-parcel site will accommodate a 616,000-square-foot development for a life science use.

The purchase of this development site is a prize addition to BioMed’s substantial portfolio in the Seattle area. BioMed owns a 1.2 million-square-foot portfolio in Seattle, including the recently completed flagship Dexter Yard project in South Lake Union. The acquisition of Denny Park South, as well as with the T6 Innovation Center at 200 Taylor Avenue North, a similarly 1.8-acre, two-parcel development site that the firm purchased last year, represent 1.2 million square feet of development potential. In total, the company has 2.4 million square feet of assets or developments in the Seattle area.

The firm’s portfolio is leased to Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Novo Nordisk, Omeros Corporation, InBios International, Inc., Lyell Immunopharma, Inc., Shape Therapeutics and Tableau.

While not one of the big three life science markets, Seattle’s life science sector is rapidly growing. The city has a below 10% vacancy rate and is part of a life science movement sweeping the nation with demand outpacing supply and development activity and strong rent growth. In the US, venture capital is driving a construction boom for new life-sciences lab space as biotech and pharma players race to develop new life-saving treatments using the genomics breakthrough that produced the leading Covid-19 vaccines. A record 31 million SF of life-science space was under development during the fourth quarter of 2021, nearly doubling the 19 million SF reported during the first quarter of last year, according to CBRE. The Q4 total includes new construction and conversions of offices into lab space.

BioMed isn’t the only major institution banking in on the growth in Seattle. Investors are highly active in the market. In one such example, Clarion Partners purchased a 70% interest in 400 Dexter, a 290,111-square-foot trophy life science asset in Seattle. At $1,255 per square foot, the partial sale represents a gross valuation of $364 million for the property. It is the highest price per square foot for a life science property in Seattle’s history.