On Wednesday, a new 197000 square foot life science building under the Seattle Space pin broke ground.
The building is located at the former site of a McDonald’s in Nanhu united community of the city and is planned to be completed in early 2024. This space will help alleviate the high demand for laboratory space in the expanding industry over the past few years.
From 2015 to 2020, the number of life science researchers in Seattle increased by 24%. In 2020 and 2021, the venture capital funds in the region reached an all-time high, which is part of the national prosperity.
According to statistics of CBRE, a real estate company, 25 life science companies in Seattle are looking for housing, and the vacancy rate of laboratories is 6.6%. Nationwide, the vacancy rate of laboratories is at the lowest level in history.
CBRE is currently acting as the Leasing Consultant for the new project, which is a joint venture between intercontinental real estate and LPC West. It owns and operates more than 5.5 million square feet of life science facilities on the west coast. LPC West has also reconfigured existing buildings in Seattle’s East Lake community for life sciences.
The new building is designed for research, equipped with dedicated emergency power supply, side load floor supporting heavy equipment and external air exchange. The blueprint calls for the construction of a 10000 square foot outdoor viewing platform. The preliminary plan includes a cafe and nightclub. A spokesman said CBRE was in discussions with potential tenants.
The building will fix a mixed use area on the plot by 2023, including 224 apartments and 50000 square feet of shopping and commercial space.
The value of biotechnology stocks has been hit hard recently, but industry observers say there is reason to be optimistic about the prosperity of life sciences in the next few years.
A recent report by CBRE shows that in 2021, venture capital funds in the field of life sciences reached a record high, reaching US $6.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022, the second highest total in the first quarter in history.
Compared with the same period in 2021, in the first quarter of 2022, the number of life science employees nationwide increased by 5.4%, and Biotechnology R & D increased by 13.4%.
The new building, located at 222 Fifth Avenue, was designed by Gensler, a global architect firm, who also designed a life science building at 1150 East Lake.
The Seattle area has a total laboratory area of 9.2 million square feet, of which 5.8 million square feet are located in the city.
