$65M Turns Hospital into Life Sciences Building

SEATTLE-Sabey Corp. has opened its James Tower Life Sciences Building, better known as the old Providence Hospital. The locally based real estate company recently completed a $65-million repositioning of the property, which included a renovation and 68,000-sf expansion to just under 310,000 sf.The six-story building is located at 550 17th Ave. on the Swedish Medical Center/Providence Campus. According to Sabey Corp. president David Sabey could not be reached for comment. In a prepared statement, he says more than 50% of James Tower is already occupied or committed. Officespace.com lists 118,000 sf as available. The asking net rental rate is $32 per sf per year.Sabey created the additional space by removing the brick and concrete building’s former center wing and constructing a new core on the 18th Street side. The core flanked on three sides by the original beaux-arts style structure.The James Tower Life Sciences Building is designed to house academic, research, laboratory and medical office uses for life sciences and medical businesses and organizations. Current tenants include LabCorp, which provides lab services to Swedish Medical Center; NeuVation, a medical device incubator focused on neuroscience technologies and markets; Seattle CyberKnife, which provides minimally invasive radiation treatments; Seattle University College of Nursing Clinical Performance Lab, which will open in the 2005 fall term and; Swedish Heart Institute’s Center for CadioVascular Wellness.In 2002, Sabey purchased approximately 40% of the Swedish/Providence Campus for $37 million, including the original Providence Hospital, also known as the 1910 Building for the year it was built by the Sisters of Providence (opened in 1911). Also included were Jefferson Tower, the campus parking garage and other adjacent parcels. Sabey expects its total reinvestment at the site will be more than $108 million, with further economic development expected from tenants, their related services and support businesses attracted to the area.