A celebratory gathering was held Thursday, Sept. 4 at Seattle’s Blue Flame Building to launch UW Medicine Lake Union, a biomedical research hub.

Speakers discussed plans for the Blue Flame Building and other UW research ventures in Seattle’s South Lake Union district.

The UW is leasing the Blue Flame Building, the former offices of Washington Natural Gas, from Vulcan, Inc. The building got its name from a neon sign, now removed, of a gas burner.

The four-story, 105,000-square-foot building will be renovated into a laboratory research facility. The facility will house biomedical research projects that cross organizational and disciplinary lines.

Among the first projects expected to move into the building are studies of the molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and multifaceted research on women’s health, including work on cancer vaccines.

The UW also has options for additional construction on the same block and a few blocks away to increase its research space.

Among the Sept. 4 kick-off speakers were Ada Healey, vice president of real estate for Vulcan, Inc., Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, Seattle City Council members Jim Compton, Jan Drago, and Peter Steinbrueck, UW Regent Jeff Brotman, and Paul Ramsey, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the UW School of Medicine.

UW Medicine already has biomedical research programs located nearby in the Rosen Building. Other current and future medical and research institutions in the neighborhood are the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance building, the Fred Hutchison Cancer Center, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Merck, and ZymoGenetics.

Vulcan, Inc., founded by Paul Allen and under the direction of president and CEO Jody Patton, owns about 50 acres of South Lake Union property. Vulcan’s vision is to work with the local community to create a neighborhood that blends schools, open space, housing, stores, offices, biotechnology workplaces, public transportation, culture, and recreation.


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