One of Seattle’s big life-science landlords is ready to trade in lab coats for lease-ups in Lower Queen Anne.
Alexandria Real Estate Equities is moving ahead with a plan to tear down a long-held bioscience building in the neighborhood and replace it with an eight-story apartment project, marking a notable pivot in how the company uses some of its Seattle dirt. The site has been in Alexandria’s portfolio since 2004, and the new proposal points to a different playbook for the firm’s local holdings.
As first reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal, the concept calls for an eight-story multifamily building to replace the existing lab facility. The outlet credits Runberg Architecture Group with the project renderings and frames the move as part of a broader recalibration of Alexandria’s Seattle footprint.
Project Site And Design Details
City design review documents peg the site at 410 W. Harrison St., according to the Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections. The materials outline a program of roughly 200 to 250 apartments totaling about 270,400 square feet, along with approximately 170 parking stalls.
The packet lists Alexandria and Washington Holdings as the development team and Runberg as architect. It also notes that the team intends to pursue an alley vacation to consolidate parcels and improve access to the site, a step that will trigger its own public process.
Why Alexandria Is Switching
The move tracks a broader cooling in parts of the life-sciences market. Alexandria’s own investor reports detail impairment charges and a review of noncore sites and land uses, which signals pressure to find alternative and lower-risk uses for certain properties. At the same time, industry reporting has documented landlords in multiple markets either selling off lab land or reworking it for housing as demand for new lab space softens and development math shifts. Per Alexandria Real Estate Equities, the company has been reassessing certain assets, and national coverage by The Real Deal has traced that trend across major biotech hubs.
Tradeoffs And Local Context
For Lower Queen Anne, the swap sets up a familiar Seattle balancing act. Neighbors and city planners will be weighing several hundred new apartments against the loss of lab capacity in a neighborhood that effectively bridges South Lake Union and downtown. In other words, it is housing versus jobs space on a very visible block.
The proposal has already started working its way through design review. Local reporting notes that the project team has presented early concept materials, and that the process generated feedback and recommendations focused on the streetscape and public realm. The development will still need to secure a master use permit, any alley-vacation approvals, and building permits before the existing lab building comes down and construction ramps up.
What To Watch Next
Materials tied to the proposal circulated in late 2025, and the project has completed at least an initial round of design review. An official construction timeline has not been released, so for now the best clues will come from the city’s permit portal and upcoming design review agendas as the team refines the plan.
For anyone keeping tabs on how much lab space quietly turns into housing in Seattle’s urban core, the next updates are likely to surface in public city documents and local trade coverage as the project moves through approvals and any neighborhood outreach.
