D.C. Aims To Invest $92M In Life Sciences Capital Projects Across 4 Campuses

The D.C. government is hoping to receive significant federal funding to bring more of the region's booming life sciences industry within District borders.

The District plans to apply for $92M to add research and innovation facilities to four major health institutions, Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development announced Thursday

The funding is part of a broader push by D.C. to get a piece of the major growth of life sciences facilities along the I-270 corridor to the District's northwest.

"We're trying to think about ways that we can invest and incentivize more lab space in the District, especially with all the federal synergy," Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio said at a Bisnow event on March 31. "There's not enough, but there's a growing amount, and what we want to do is figure out how to make that grow faster." 

The announcement also happens as the healthcare industry is reimagining its footprint to take advantage of rising consumer interest and capital flowing into telehealth. According to a McKinsey survey updated last year, investments in telehealth tripled between 2017 and 2020.

Once approved by the federal government, the funding would predominantly go toward expanding current facilities or financing initiatives dealing with technology and innovation. 

The recipients — Children's National, Whitman-Walker at St. Elizabeths, Howard University and George Washington University — would receive funds from the U.S. Department of the Treasury through a fund set up in the American Rescue Plan to invest in healthcare challenges laid bare by the pandemic.

Howard University, which is in the process of building an entirely new hospital center, would use the funding for its National Research Center for Health Disparities. The center, located at Georgia Avenue and Bryant Street NW, would pair faculty and researchers with private sector companies to develop new therapies and medications targeted toward chronic illnesses impacting communities of color.

Development plans moved forward for the center last August when Howard announced that Capstone Development, Quadrangle Development Corp. and Edens would build the 260K SF office and lab building.

George Washington University would also build on existing initiatives like its Innovation+Entrepreneurship Lab. The university said it would use the funding to deliver a "telehealth infrastructure and digital health innovation center" that would enable D.C. residents to more easily access remote healthcare.

The project would include a "new presence" in the Innovation District, a portion of Pennsylvania Avenue west of the White House where the university has teamed up with the deputy mayor's office and Golden Triangle BID to attract tech-oriented businesses to an underutilized, office-heavy stretch of downtown. 

It would also include a presence in GW's forthcoming Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, a $375M, 136-bed facility at the St. Elizabeths East campus.

That project neighbors Whitman-Walker's Max Robinson Center, a 118K SF facility that will serve as the healthcare provider's new headquarters when it opens, currently scheduled for 2023. With the new federal funding, Whitman-Walker would add research functions to its new healthcare facility, according to a release.

Children's National plans to use the funds to expand the scope of the second phase of its Research & Innovation Campus. The first phase, located on the Walter Reed campus, brought the 32K SF JLABS incubator, which features lab and prototype space in addition to traditional office and meeting amenities, according to its website.

With the funding in hand, Children's National hopes to initiate construction on Phase 2 of the campus and establish a pediatric-centered innovation hub. In September, the National Institutes of Health awarded the hospital system $6.7M for Phase 2, the first grant secured toward construction on the project.

Beyond the benefits to healthcare for the city's residents, Falcicchio said at the Bisnow event that he saw lab space as a way to future-proof the office market and potentially bring more workers to downtown spaces.

"What's great about lab space is people have to come to the lab to work," Falcicchio said.