A massive, $1 billion biotech campus is being planned for Morrisville
Two developers that have invested significantly across the Triangle in recent years are targeting Morrisville for a massive new life sciences campus that could eventually add 1.5 million square feet of space for biotech companies.
The project — called Spark LS and backed by North Carolina developer Trinity Capital and Miami Beach-based Starwood Capital — comes with a $1 billion price tag and will include space for restaurants and retail in addition to more than a dozen buildings designated for lab space and bio-manufacturing.
It’s the latest in a wave of life science-focused projects being planned for the Triangle’s red-hot biotech sector, which has built significant momentum over the past two years.
In 2021 alone, around $4 billion worth of biotech investments were announced in the Triangle, including significant projects from Fujifilm Diosynth, Amgen and Jaguar Gene Therapy, according to the N.C. Biotechnology Center.
And already some 10 million square feet of biotech space is under development in the region, according to the real estate services firm Newmark.
In a sign of how much interest the Triangle’s economy is attracting, Spark is being built on speculation with no tenants signed on yet.
“I think it has a lot to do with the anticipated tenancy being life science,” Jeff Sheehan, a partner at Trinity Capital, said in an interview. “When the pandemic hit, business got slow for a lot of traditional office developers, but in the life-science business, we actually saw an acceleration.”
And the demand for lab and manufacturing space at Trinity Capital’s other Triangle properties has remained strong, Sheehan said.
“We’re seeing the demand from a front row seat,” he said. “And that’s what makes us so optimistic and willing to make such a big bet on a speculative basis.”
Another reason the company is optimistic is the state’s aggressive recruitment of biotech companies.
Dozens of biotech companies have expanded to the Triangle in recent years after landing incentive packages from the state.
One of Trinity’s current tenants includes the biotech company GRAIL, which said in 2020 it would add 400 jobs in Durham after getting an incentive package worth more than $6 million from North Carolina and Durham County.
“We probably wouldn’t be as bullish about this investment if we didn’t have great partners like Wake County, Morrisville and the state,” Sheehan said. “It will be key to work together to recruit this talent, because it’s very competitive out there. Everybody is trying to recruit these companies in every state around the country.”
Spark will be built in phases, Sheehan said, with the first phase expected to add three buildings of more than 400,000 square feet. The first phase could also include an incubator space for startups, he added.
Spark will be at the intersection of McCrimmon Parkway and Airport Boulevard in Morrisville, between Research Triangle Park and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Last year, the town of Morrisville changed zoning laws in that part of the town to encourage denser development and attract more businesses, The News & Observer previously reported.
Sheehan said the zoning changes were a game changer for the property.
“I think if Morrisville had not done the zoning changes, this (land) probably would have gone to a warehouse type of use instead of life science,” he said.
The Spark project will roughly double the amount of space that Trinity and Starwood own together in the Triangle. The two also are developing Park Point in Research Triangle Park and the Southport Innovation Center in Morrisville.
Separately, Trinity Capital is working on the Venable Center, which will bring more lab space to downtown Durham, and owns several other properties in Durham and Raleigh.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 1:25 PM with the headline "A massive, $1 billion biotech campus is being planned for Morrisville."
