A near-record price for a life sciences asset in Seattle’s South Lake Union, a booming hub of Big Tech offices and increasing lab space, shows increased activity and demand in a submarket already dense with top-flight tenants such as Amazon and Google.

The off-market, partial interest sale of 400 Dexter to Clarion Partners, which now owns 70% interest in the property, values the 260K SF lab building at $364M, or $1,255 per rentable SF. Newmark arranged the deal for Clarion and the seller, an affiliate of Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

It’s the second-highest price-per-square foot paid in Seattle life sciences history, behind another Alexandria-to-Clarion sale in December of three spaces in Eastlake for a combined $450M.

The property is near the core of life sciences activity in Seattle, where a small stretch of South Lake Union includes the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Allen Institute for Brain Science, University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center within a short walk of each other.

The city’s growing life sciences market has consistently been ranked as one of the strongest in the nation, with demand skyrocketing and vacancy hovering around 4%. Venture capital investment in the large Puget Sound regions hit $1.1B in the first quarter of 2021, up 300% year-over-year.