Published August 2002

MDS Pharma Services plans move into county

By Eric Fetters
Herald Business Writer

A contract research company plans to move from the King County side of Bothell into a building overlooking the Canyon Park business campus in Snohomish County.

MDS Pharma Services has signed a lease to occupy 60,000 square feet of office and laboratory space, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s commercial real estate office in Bellevue.

The building on 30th Avenue SE formerly housed Lumenis, which made lasers and related devices for medical uses. In late 2001, the company shut down its Bothell plant.

Before moving in, MDS will remodel the building to create the specialized lab facilities it needs, said Nick Dykstra, the company’s vice president of discovery and preclinical services.

“We’re still in the midst of architectural design, so based on that, I would guess we’ll be in the new space by next March or so,” Dykstra said.

Based in Canada, MDS provides laboratory research and development services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The company is a division of publicly traded MDS Inc.

Its current facility in Bothell, which MDS has been in since late 1984, is spread among three different buildings. Discovery and preclinical research, primarily for drug companies, is the focus of the work in the Bothell labs, Dykstra said.

In addition to offering more space in a single building, the new location also offers updated technology, said Gary Bullington, a director at Cushman & Wakefield in Bellevue.

Dykstra added that south Snohomish County’s proximity to the Seattle area was a plus in choosing the Canyon Park building.

MDS employs about 85 people at its Bothell labs and office. That number may increase after the company moves, Dykstra said.

As Snohomish County economic development officials try to attract new biotech companies, Canyon Park remains a magnet for such firms. In late July, Nastech Pharmaceutical Co. moved its headquarters and research labs into a building there. That company, which is working to improve nasal drug delivery systems, was formerly based in Hauppauge, N.Y.

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