In summer of 2004, University of Washington School of Medicine began renovating the already existing Brotman Building into a state-of-the-art biomedical research facility. That was the first step in their multi-phase development plan to build an impressive biomedical research campus in the South Lake Union area of Seattle. Phase two broke ground in 2006, and then In April 2010, the University of Washington’s Board of Regents approved plans to move forward with Phase 3.1 which was completed in 2013. In August of 2015 the University closed on the fourth phase of development that will provide additional office and laboratory space.
Currently the campus consists of three state-of-the-art laboratory buildings and one office building. With the completion of the recently closed Phase 4, the campus will total over 638,000 square-feet, with a total bond issue of more than $505 million.
An additional building (Phase 5) is pending the completion of Phase 4 and will add another buildings to to the campus. With the completion of all phases, the entire UW Medicine Lake Union Campus will consist of six buildings and 800,000 square-feet of office and life sciences laboratory space.
- WBRP (Phase 1) – Construction of the UW Medicine South Lake Union Campus began in 2003 with the complete renovation and redevelopment of the 105,000 square-foot Brotman Building. The four-story Brotman Building has been converted into state-of-the-art biomedical research wet and dry labs, lab support, animal resource spaces, and conference spaces.
- WBRP II (Phase 2) – The second phase of the south lake union campus included two new buildings on the same city block as the Brotman Building; an office building and a state-of-the-art laboratory facility. The combined square-footage of the second phase totals 288,000 gross square-feet of laboratory and office space. Below-grade parking was also included in the project.
- WBRF 3.1 (Phase 3) – The third phase in UW Medicine’s South Lake Union Campus consists of three lesser phases. Phase 3.1 broke ground in summer 2011 and was completed in 2013. It includes the construction of a 138,000 square-foot research laboratory building directly across the street from the first and second phases of the south lake union campus.
- WBRP 3.2 (Phase 4) – The fourth phase closed in August 2015 and has begun construction on a $143 million biomedical research building that sits adjacent to Phase 3. The new building will provide approximately 165,000 square feet of biomedical research facilities, with three clinics and associated clinical research facilities. Research at the new site is expected to include new programs and the expansion of existing programs, including microbiology, global health, kidney research, immunology, biomedical informatics, neurosciences, protein design, gastrointestinal and behavioral assays. The new building will include a primary care clinic, as well as a diabetes clinic and an ophthalmology clinic focused on retinal diseases.
The project is being delivered using the National Development Council’s American Model for public-private partnerships. The model uses tax-exempt bond financing and employs a private sector development team to maximize the benefits of private sector development expertise. The development team includes the UW School of Medicine, Vulcan Real Estate, Perkins+Will, Sellen Construction and National Development Council.