Medical Research Property Sells for $90M

SEATTLE—BioMed Realty Trust says is under contract to acquire the 307 Westlake Avenue North building in the heart of the burgeoning South Lake Union life science market of Seattle for approximately $90 million.

The firm says the investment continues it's Seattle market efforts, which include a 121,000 square foot expansion of its BioMed Realty Research Center, a few blocks from the acquisition property. The company will soon own nearly 500,000 square feet of laboratory and office space in the core innovation districts of downtown Seattle.

 The five-story building is 99% leased to four tenants, including approximately 84,800 square feet which serves as the headquarters and research facility for Seattle Biomedical Research Institution (Seattle BioMed). The property also serves as the home to Juno Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing immunotherapies for cancer treatment which completed its IPO in December 2014.

“We are very pleased to be expanding our footprint in Seattle's core innovation district of South Lake Union, one of the fastest growing, most exciting life science communities in the country,” said Mike Ruhl, senior director of leasing and development for BioMed Realty in Seattle. “As the leading life science real estate company in Seattle, acquiring this state-of-the-art building at 307 Westlake allows us to provide Seattle's growing life science industry with class A laboratory and office space right in the middle of Seattle's innovation center, with tremendous neighborhood amenities, including a growing offering of shops and restaurants.”

Founded in 1976, Seattle BioMed is Seattle's first global health organization that continues to be a leader in the Seattle life science community. The research organization implements a revolutionary systems biology approach to infectious disease research with its nearly 250 staff members. Seattle BioMed has completed groundbreaking research, including work on a malaria vaccine in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and has made significant progress on a vaccine for the HIV virus. 

With BioMed Realty's stewardship, the 307 Westlake research facility will continue to anchor and support Seattle's vibrant life science community at the intersection of the growing health care industry and the permanent frontier of innovation.

BioMed Realty has built its business in Seattle and around the country on strong relationships with its tenant partners. Seattle BioMed adds to the company's strong Seattle tenant list, which includes Novo Nordisk, Omeros and NanoString.  In addition, through this transaction, Seattle BioMed joins the company's growing list of partnerships with world-class research organizations including the Broad Institute, The J. Craig Venter Institute, the Wyss Institute and the Salk Institute, and relationships in the University research community, including Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, Wake Forest University, Washington University and University of California – San Diego.

The critically important project is located in the heart of the transformed South Lake Union innovation district in close proximity to the region's most esteemed research institutes, including the Gates Foundation, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Children's Hospital, University of Washington's School of Medicine, Children's Research Institute, the Institute for Systems Biology, PATH and the Group Health Research Institute. 

Alan Gold, the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, noted,  “In December 2014, we completed the sale of our 9911 Belward Campus Drive property in Rockville, Maryland, for $322.5 million so that we might invest those proceeds in higher growth investment opportunities.  Our recently announced 360,000 square foot build-to-suit development for Illumina in the Bay Area and this acquisition of 307 Westlake in the heart of the South Lake Union innovation district are very compelling high quality growth opportunities.”

This acquisition is slated to close in the first quarter of 2015.