Another biotech building proposed for South Lake Union

Seattle's fast-changing South Lake Union neighborhood, already a biotech hub, could get another lab/research building.

Biomed Realty Trust of San Diego has filed preliminary paperwork with the city for a seven-story project at Fairview Avenue North and Republican Street.

The building would be just south of the five-story Fairview Research Center at Fairview and Mercer Street, which Biomed opened in 2008.

The buildings could be connected, said Dick Robison of Mithun, the project's architect.

Robison said Biomed has no tenant for the new building, dubbed Fairview Research Center II, but wants permits so it can be built quickly when demand rises.

The Fairview Research Center is about 65 percent leased, according to a Biomed regulatory filing from last month. Its lead tenant is Danish biopharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.

At 100 feet tall, the new building would require a zoning change. The current height limit is 65 feet, although biotech buildings can exceed that by 20 feet.

City officials are considering proposals to rezone the entire South Lake Union area to allow taller buildings.

The advisory Queen Anne/Magnolia Design Review Board is tentatively scheduled to consider Biomed's proposal Oct. 20. The site now is occupied by a two-story office building built in 1959.

Biomed is a real-estate investment trust that owns, develops and manages lab and office space targeted at life-sciences and biotech tenants. It owns or has interests in 77 properties in 12 states, according to its website.

South Lake Union already is home to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, ZymoGenetics, UW Medicine, the Institute for Systems Biology and global health nonprofit PATH.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com