Morrisville to get a Massive $1B Biotech Campus

Two developers who have made big investments in the Triangle in recent years are eyeing Morrisville for a massive new life sciences complex that could add 1.5 million square feet of space for Biotech firms. The $1 billion project, known as Spark LS, is sponsored by North Carolina developer Trinity Capital and Miami Beach-based Starwood Capital. It will include restaurants and retail space, as well as more than a dozen buildings dedicated to lab space and bio-manufacturing.

It’s the latest in a slew of life science-related projects in the works for the Triangle’s burgeoning Biotech sector, which has gained substantial traction in the last two years. According to the N.C Center, over $4 billion in investments were announced in the Triangle in 2021, including big initiatives from Fujifilm Diosynth, Amgen, and Jaguar Gene Therapy.

According to the real estate services firm Newmark, the region already has 10 million square feet of Biotech space under construction. Spark is being built on speculative basis, with no tenants signed on yet, indicating how much interest the Triangle’s economy is receiving. Sheehan added that demand for lab and manufacturing space has remained robust at Trinity Capital’s other Triangle assets. The state’s strong recruitment of Biotech companies is another cause for the company’s optimism.

Several Biotech companies have relocated to the Triangle in recent years after receiving state incentives. GRAIL, a business that stated it would add 400 jobs in Durham in 2020 after receiving a $6 million incentive package from North Carolina and Durham County, is one of Trinity’s existing tenants. Spark will be built in phases, according to Sheehan, with the first phase consisting of three buildings totaling over 400,000 square feet.