September 30, 2015

280,000-sf Eastlake building to target tech tenants

Image by CollinsWoerman [enlarge]

The building would include more than 10,000 square feet of street-level retail space and underground parking.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities is reworking an old plan to construct a commercial building at 1150 Eastlake Ave. E. in South Lake Union.

The Pasadena, California-based real estate investment trust proposed a six-story, 181,200-square-foot research lab for the site in 2011, but the project was never built.

The new proposal is for a 10-story, 280,000-square-foot office building designed for tech tenants. It would include more than 10,000 square feet of street-level retail space and underground parking for 500 vehicles.

The architect is CollinsWoerman and the landscape architect is Weisman Design Group.

Alexandria acquired the site from Zymogenetics in 2008.

The new project would replace a 9,700-square-foot light-industrial building and two small parking lots.

Alexandria is also seeking a street vacation of East Nelson Place, which runs along the north edge of the site and dead-ends just west of Interstate 5. The project would replace the street with a tiered public amenity area that would follow the steep slope of the site.

The new building would face another Alexandria project planned across the street, at 1165 Eastlake Ave. E. That project, which has received its master use permit, will be a four-story, 134,200-square-foot building with office and research space. It will also have a public plaza.

CollinsWoerman, which is designing the 1165 Eastlake building as well, says in design documents filed with the city that the two buildings and their open spaces should help boost pedestrian activity on the street. Most of the surrounding buildings are used for lab research or office space.

A Seattle design review board will hold its first meeting for the project at 8 p.m. Oct. 21 at Queen Anne Community Center.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities describes itself on its website as the largest office REIT to be focused on collaborative science and technology campuses. It says it's planning 12.3 million square feet of near-term and future development projects.