August 4, 2025

Alexandria's 701 Dexter has its TCO … now where are the tenants?

Photo by Brian Miller [enlarge]

The 701 Dexter project is the first piece of Alexandria’s five-building Mercer Blocks cluster.

In South Lake Union, who remembers the squat beige 1980s office building on the corner of 701 Dexter Ave. N.? That was demolished four years back, accompanied by no sobs or mourning. And last week came the temporary certificate of occupancy for its replacement: the shiny new 701 Dexter life-science tower, developed by Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

The builder, Lease Crutcher Lewis, still has the building ringed with construction fencing, but the landscaping is in place and 701 Dexter looks ready for its glamorous debut. ZGF Architects designed the 11-story, 227,000-square-foot project, which Newmark is now seeking to fill.

The lobby's eye-catching, three-level “bike safe” on the corner, a kind of rotating lazy Susan-cum-cake display case, is ready to store bicycles for commuters — if they dare to trust the self-parking software. And the Roy Street connection to Aurora has been restored after nearly four years of construction.

Photo via Unico Properties [enlarge]

The old 1980s office building was demolished four years back.

No tenants have been announced, but Alexandria and Lewis have in recent months begun some tenant-improvement plans for speculative suites.

The 701 Dexter project is the first piece of Alexandria's five-building Mercer Blocks cluster. Early in its history, the land acquired from the city was dubbed the Mercer Mega Blocks; the 701 Dexter corner was separately purchased from Unico Properties.

Two more life-sci buildings are eventually expected to rise on the vacant two blocks north of Mercer (now used construction staging); then a fourth on the corner of Mercer and Dexter; then an apartment building at Roy and Dexter — south of 701 Dexter. The affordable apartments were a condition of the $139 million city land deal, negotiated in 2019 and closed in 2022.

No schedule has been announced for any of those. All told, Alexandria has about 5 acres, with around 1.3 million square feet planned — plus the apartments. Those were once to be developed by Sustainable Living Innovations for Alexandria. That 18-story, 394-unit project, aka 615 Dexter, has been dormant for over three years. No new names have emerged there.

At 701 Dexter, the brokers are Jesse Ottele, Cavan O'Keefe and Daniel Seger. The building also includes four underground parking levels (with about 260 stalls), a lobby cafe, several other amenities and multiple terraces.

The 701 Dexter team also included Site Workshop, landscape architect; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, civil and structural engineer; Glumac, mechanical engineer; McKinstry and PAE Engineers, mechanical and plumbing; Precision Electric Group and Case Engineering, electrical engineers; and Fisher Marantz Stone, lighting.