Merck Subsidiary Preleases 133,000 SF of Interurban Exchange Complex

SEATTLE-After a year of negotiations, Rosetta Inpharmatics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck & Co., has preleased one of four buildings at the planned Interurban Exchange project in the South Lake Union area. The building, Exchange III, will be built out as 133,173 sf of laboratory and office space and be completed earlier than scheduled.

The four-building, 500,000-sf redevelopment project in the South Lake Union is a joint venture between Vulcan Inc and Schnitzer Northwest. Merck will consolidate its Kirkland and Bothell, Wash. operations into Exchange III upon completion of the facility, now scheduled for early 2004 rather than 2005. Development of the three remaining buildings at Interurban Exchange is scheduled to begin in 2003 with completion expected in 2005.

Interurban Exchange is slated for Terry Avenue North between Harrison Street and Mercer Street. Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc., operating under the LLC City Investors, has gobbled up some 50 acres in the South Lake Union area at a cost of around $100 million. Vulcan says its vision for the area is a neighborhood “that blends housing, retail, office, biotechnology, open space, public transportation, culture and education.”