Emeryville’s skyline is about to add a nine-story high-rise, the first ground-up office project in the city in almost a decade. EmeryStation West (rendering above), under construction by Wareham Development, will include 260k SF for offices and research labs. The developer expects to fill the building with life sciences companies, adding to its 1.5M SF office and lab space portfolio with a 98% occupancy rate in Emeryville, reports the San Francisco Business Times. (For what's going on in nearby Oakland, join us for our Oakland Future of Office event Sept. 27.)

Construction will last roughly 18 months and is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. EmeryStation West will contain a transit center and be adjacent to a large parking structure north of the Amtrak station. Wareham Development financed the bulk of the project with the help of $4.2M from the city’s former development agency funding, another $4.2M from Caltrans and $850k from a federal grant. Wareham Development also completed a 110k SF office and life sciences building in Berkeley last year. [SFBT]