ZymoGenetics sells parcel of land for $11.5M

Pacific Northwest

Biotechnology

ZymoGenetics said Friday it has sold a parcel of land next to its Eastlake headquarters for net proceeds of $11.5 million. The buyer, according to county records, appears to be an affiliate of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, a California developer of laboratory space for biotech firms. Alexandria also owns the main ZymoGenetics building under a sale-leaseback arrangement.

The Seattle biotechnology company will record a gain on the sale of about $7 million, it said in a regulatory filing. The land was bought in 2001 and 2002 when the company anticipated future expansion.

Nation and World

Economy

Spending slows as incomes drop

Consumer spending slowed to a crawl and personal incomes plunged in July, reflecting the waning impact of $93 billion in economic-stimulus payments.

The Commerce Department report Friday showed that consumer activity got off to a shaky start in the third quarter, raising new worries that the economy could falter in coming months due to rising unemployment, a continuing credit crisis and the deepest housing slump in decades.

Personal incomes fell by a bigger-than-expected 0.7 percent in July, the biggest drop in nearly three years, while consumer spending edged up a modest 0.2 percent, just one-third the 0.6 percent gain in June.

Banking

Integrity Bank is 10th to collapse

Integrity Bank, of Alpharetta, Ga., was closed by U.S. regulators Friday, the 10th bank to collapse this year amid a surge in soured real-estate loans stemming from the worst housing slump since the Great Depression.

Integrity Bank, with $1.1 billion in assets and $974 million in deposits, was shuttered by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Regions Financial, Alabama's biggest bank, will assume all deposits from Integrity, which was run by Integrity Bancshares. The failed bank's five offices will open Sept. 2 as branches of Regions, the FDIC said.

Banks are being closed at the fastest pace in 14 years as financial companies report more than $505 billion in writedowns and credit losses since 2007. California lender IndyMac Bancorp, which had $32 billion in assets, was closed July 11 in the third-largest bank seizure, contributing to a 14 percent drop in the U.S. deposit-insurance fund that had $45.2 billion at the end of the in the second quarter.

Compiled from Seattle Times business staff, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News