Biotechnology firm Sonoma Biotherapeutics leased an office building with plans to expand from San Francisco into Seattle in a transaction that market shows the resilience of the region's life science sector.
San Francisco-based Sonoma Bio, which develops therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, leased the building constructed in 2000 as part of a planned expansion in the Seattle area.
The transaction underscores the strength and resilience of the life science market in the Puget Sound, earning the deal a 2023 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
Sonoma Bio plans to use the 83,000-square-foot building at 501 Elliott Ave. W. in the Queen Anne neighborhood as a research and development and manufacturing center.
The RMR Group, based in Newton, Massachusetts, redeveloped the property owned by Office Properties Income Trust as a project called Unison Elliott Bay.
The lease is a welcome sign of strength for the local life sciences sector after online travel service Expedia bought and converted the Amgen biotech campus to tech office space, said Nathan Daum, economic development program manager for the city of Shoreline just north of Seattle.
About the project: Sonoma Bio’s requirements to accommodate cell production at the planned research and development center were very specialized, adding a layer of complexity to the lease and build out, said Don Blakeney, executive director of The U District Partnership, a nonprofit that supports residents, employees and businesses in Seattle University District.
RMR Group and Office Properties Income Trust, also based in Massachusetts, created outdoor meeting spaces and other health and wellness features at the offices built in 2000.
What the judges said: The redevelopment of the four-story property paved the way for the Sonoma Bio lease, which shows “there is still strength in the market with demand for biotech space in Seattle,” Blakeney said.
“The Sonoma lease was impactful in further validating Seattle's life science market as a real player on the national scale,” added Tyler Barth, senior vice president at Kilroy Realty, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment trust that is active in office and life science development. "Further, the lease along the north waterfront, outside of the typical Eastlake cluster, validated that market as attractive for life science tenants.”
Personalized medicine and biomanufacturing represent "an extraordinary growth opportunity for our region's economy,” Daum said.
They made it happen: JLL Vice President Tim Jones and Chris Biloto, senior vice president with The RMR Group represented the landlord.