According to the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association, Bothell today is home to 86 percent of Snohomish County's 5,000 biotech workers, who are employed by 35 companies like Icos, Seattle Genetics, and Epoch Biosciences. Canyon Park is the biggest location for biotech in Bothell and has a distinctly different approach to development than that envisioned for South Lake Union, Interbay, or Renton. Prototypically suburban, Canyon Park is made up of cookie-cutter office buildings surrounded by acres of parking lots. There is one restaurant, a bank, and a gym at the entrance. A couple of miles away, a huge strip-mall-style development has grown up to service the area. While there are some apartment buildings nearby, commuting by car and living in a bedroom community are the norm. There is a good deal of vacant land and office space available for lease in Canyon Park or the surrounding business parks, like Quadrant Monte Villa and Schnitzer North Creek. In addition, Belanich got the height limits raised in Canyon Park, so significant redevelopment potential exists as well.
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Former Mayor Paul Schell: "Where are the likely jobs going to be? What is the strategy that is going to get us there?"
(Annie Marie Musselman) |
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Bill Neil, a real-estate broker with GVA Kidder Mathews who specializes in biotech, says, "Right now most of the momentum is in Bothell and the Denny Triangle/South Lake Union." He believes the two locations have plenty of capacity to absorb future biotech development. Since the urban and suburban settings differ from one another so starkly, each appeals to different companies depending on the corporate culture, according to Neil. He believes companies either have a suburban or urban mind-set. Says Neil, "People have very fervent feelings one way or the other." The broker does not, however, think there is room for the Port and Renton to get in on the action. "The market can't handle it all," he says.
Annie Marie Musselman
Alex Pietsch, Rentons director of economic development and planning, on the Lake Washington waterfront: Whats wrong with dreaming?
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URBANISTS LIKE Schell believe the land-use patterns represented by Bothell are a failure of urban planning. He wants to prevent more development from sprawling out into the great green spaces of the countryside. He also believes that the kind of mixed uses that he promotes will be most attractive to the new generation of industries like biotech.
Michael Cade, vice president of the Snohomish Economic Development Council, is sick of hearing such arguments. "When I hear comments that what they are doing in Canyon Park is not in the nature of the beast, I say, 'So what? It works.'" Cade thinks Bothell is in a much better position to compete for growth than Renton or the Port of Seattle. "When you talk to Alex Pietsch and he says, 'We have the land for the next wave of biotech,' keep in mindwe have some very phenomenal, high-end property for biotech. The buildings are ready to go. This is the next marketplace."
This whole debate makes developer Belanich recall that he nearly lured Immunex out of Seattle, to relocate in Bothell. The outcry from elected officials was tremendous. "Norm Rice and [King County Executive] Ron Sims portrayed it like Immunex was leaving the area," he says. What happened next? The Port of Seattle stepped in and gave Immunex a very good deal on waterfront property. "The Port gave Immunex the land," says Belanich. "I'm agitated by the Port because they are competing with private industry. The city and the county put $45 million into mitigation and a roadway [for Immunex]. Up here, I have to pay my own mitigation."
HIS POINT OF VIEW makes one keenly aware of the difficult task awaiting O'Neill and her organization, Explore Life. O'Neill concedes the competition for biotech nationwide is fierce. In 2001, when the U.S. Department of Commerce conducted a survey of governments around the country, nearly 80 percent of cities and states put biotech as one of their top two foci for economic development. She hopes to convince the region's leaders to pursue biotech together, but even before the starting gate has opened, the jockeying for position has already begun.
ghowland@seattleweekly.com
