200-Acre North Texas Life Sciences Hub Moving Forward
A sprawling adaptive reuse project in the North Texas city of Plano that will transform a 200-acre former tech campus into a multi-use, life sciences-centered district with 4M SF of labs, has taken key steps forward in recent weeks, earning approval from a local planning and zoning commission in mid-July and announcing a new name, the Texas Research Quarter.
The ambitious project, led by Dallas-based NexPoint Advisors, aims to bolster the growth of life sciences and lab development in Texas during a time of uncertainty in the market and questions about the pace of expansion in secondary markets like Houston.
NexPoint purchased the 91-acre Electronic Data Systems campus for $125M in 2018 and has steadily added adjacent parcels as part of its redevelopment efforts.
Plans for the Texas Research Quarter include residential space, a research hospital, biomanufacturing capacity and office space. It also would incorporate 109 acres of the adjacent Legacy Business Park, a 3,000-acre development and significant regional employment center.
NexPoint believes the Texas Research Quarter could function as a centralizing, convening project and catapult the Dallas region into a more prominent position in life sciences. Pegasus Park, an already established development focused on incubator space, helps open the door to opportunity.
As a master developer, NexPoint can develop the different elements — research hospital, manufacturing and lab space — needed to create a nexus of research and a home for firms that expand out of their incubator spaces. With Pegasus Park, an existing incubator and life sciences hub that just announced expansion plans, already established, it makes it easier for TRQ to make an impact.
The vision for the biotech space is convergence between science and technology. The manufacturing portion of the project, multiple 400K SF buildings that can support cell and gene therapy, will be completed early in the project due to demand.
The scale of the project will also ideally capture the attention of firms looking to grow and stay in the region, and there are plans to bring in another organization to run an incubator on-site. In addition, developers hope that the lower costs of doing business in Texas will be a magnet for firms that can’t afford pricier markets.
The project could break ground as early as September, per NexPoint President Frank Zaccanelli. The development is proposed to roll out in a series of four 18-month phases.
Phases 1 and 2 propose the transformation of two existing buildings into lab and office space stretching across 970K SF and amenity space reaching 120K SF.
There has been some pushback on the project from Plano residents, specifically regarding the apartment zoning, as well as adding more parks and open space, according to a Dallas Morning News recap of the planning commission approval. But commissioners gave the proposal a green light, approving it 6-0. City council approval, initially schedule for a vote on Aug. 14, has been pushed back to the Sept. 11 meeting.
“I know people don’t like the apartments,” Planning Commission Chairman David Downs said. “I see the need for them.”
Commissioners focused on the potential economic impact of the development.
“A project of this size, this scope and this degree of economic impact is an opportunity for the city of Plano that we dare not pass up,” Plano Commissioner J. Michael Brounoff said. “I am not afraid of the apartments. A project of this size is creating its own housing market, which they are satisfying to the best of their ability.”
