Fred Hutch Cancer Center is expanding its research footprint in South Lake Union with three buildings on Eastlake Avenue East that will add more than 300,000 square feet devoted to labs and flexible spaces.
Fred Hutch is purchasing 1165 Eastlake Ave. E. and assuming a 70% interest in both 1201 and 1208 Eastlake Ave. E., which will help the cancer institution advance its long-anticipated research expansion while allowing scientists already well-established in labs in the 1201 building, known as the Steam Plant, to continue their work uninterrupted.
The acquisition represents an “important agreement that will support our mission to prevent, treat and cure cancer and infectious disease,” said Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD, Fred Hutch president and director and holder of the Raisbeck Endowed Chair.
Fred Hutch had originally intended to move forward with construction on the Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute Building in the center of its South Lake Union campus. The decision to acquire existing buildings enables Fred Hutch to pursue its research mission, while preserving the vacant land at the center of campus for future use and saving money that would have gone toward constructing a new research building. Acquiring existing nearby buildings will save more than $300 million in capital costs.
In 2022, Stuart and Molly Sloan gave Fred Hutch $78 million, and the Bezos family contributed a landmark $710.5 million. Although a significant portion of these gifts was to be directed toward the new building, the Sloans and the Bezos family are in favor of the change in plans.
“We are in full support of this investment because it advances the researchers and their work to help cancer patients around the world,” said Stuart Sloan. “I’ve long believed that miracles come from the labs.”
He’s not the only believer. Geoff Hill, MD, senior vice president and division director of Translational Science and Therapeutics Division, says the labs in the Steam Plant are state-of-the-art facilities that feature an open floor plan where scientists interact in a collaborative environment. Hill said the research teams that have occupied the Steam Plant since September 2021 were looking forward to staying in their existing building.
“This building is set up well for our research because we all had input into the equipment needed in terms of the mix of labs and the location of wet labs,” said Hill, who holds the Leonard and Norma Klorfine Endowed Chair for Clinical Research. “We literally have nothing we need to leave the building for: we have a flow cytometry core, we have data science expertise, we have a comparative medicine facility, we have innovative single cell sequencing platforms.”
What they don’t have is more space for new people, which is where the other two nearby buildings will prove useful.
“Having the space next door and across the street will be very helpful,” Hill said. “I am really happy we don’t have to think about moving because a move, even if just a few blocks away, is always disruptive.”
Pivot from new construction will save millions
Jeff West, vice president of facilities and campus operations, said he appreciated how the Sloan and Bezos families have been so supportive.
“Stuart and Molly Sloan and the Bezos family contributed major gifts toward the Sloan Building and are graciously supporting this acquisition,” he said. “I know that my Philanthropy colleagues are working with them to evolve their gifts.”
The Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute Building wouldn’t have been occupied until the first quarter of 2029, but plans for construction were already underway.
“A neat thing about the completed work on Sloan is that much of it can benefit a future construction project,” West said.
The new direction took shape several months ago when an opportunity arose with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. around a potential acquisition by Fred Hutch involving three buildings: the 1201 and 1208 Eastlake buildings and 1165 Eastlake, home to Adaptive Biotechnologies. Adaptive was founded in 2009 by two Fred Hutch researchers and is a major player in high-throughput DNA sequencing of immune system T cells and B cells for research and diagnostic purposes.
One advantage of not pursuing new construction is that the entire process of getting labs up and running is much quicker. In addition to the 1201 building, which Fred Hutch already fully occupies, the 1208 building is 10% occupied by Fred Hutch. Meanwhile, the Adaptive building is already equipped with significant lab space. “We could move people in without renovation, but we will modify to match our needs,” West said.
Shifting from a new build to an acquisition strategy means that Fred Hutch still has land available for future development; West describes it as a "terrific piece of land on Lake Union in a phenomenal location.”
"It accelerates our options,” he said. “We can start thinking, ‘What can we do with this site if we don’t need it for lab space?’ This opens up the possibility of saving that land for clinical use. The land is zoned for multiple uses, so we have maximum flexibility.”
Looking toward the future, the decision means there are more funds to devote to scientific discovery.
“It gives our board flexibility and gives us additional funding to spend on our science and on recruiting,” said West.
Precision oncology — the practice of individualizing a person’s cancer screening, prevention and treatment strategies to help personalize their care — remains a top priority for Fred Hutch, said Peter Nelson, MD, who holds the Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute Endowed Chair and directs the Stuart and Molly Sloan Precision Oncology Institute.
“This expansion helps us accelerate our research and the recruitment of scientists with a precision oncology focus,” said Nelson. “The new space allows us to invest in the people doing precision oncology work faster and get their work launched more quickly than if we had to wait five years for a new building to be constructed and occupied.”
Construction plans had envisioned research “neighborhoods” that group together people doing similar work — both scientific groups already at Fred Hutch and investigators that will be recruited. The expansion will mirror that approach, particularly as it relates to researchers who benefit from interactions that integrate new technology platforms with work on specific diseases that incorporate prevention, detection, and treatment strategies.
“Building these hubs is still a priority as a means to encourage collaboration,” Nelson said. “Instead of spending money on bricks and mortar, we can re-direct resources directly toward our research priorities, which will speed scientific progress.”
