LexisNexis Chooses 120,000-Sq.-Ft. in Centennial Campus for Expansion

by Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

Legal research firm LexisNexis has announced it would relocate its software division from Cary to Raleigh to accommodate the company’s growth. According to the Triangle Business Journal, LexisNexis will occupy the 120,000-square-foot office building on Centennial Campus that technology firm Red Hat had vacated earlier this year when it relocated to downtown Raleigh.

The new location at 1801 Varsity Drive (pictured) will more than double the space LexisNexis currently occupies in Cary and provide room for up to 650 employees. The expansion will enable the company to fulfill its commitment made to the state in February 2012 to develop a “Software Center of Excellence” in North Carolina and create 350 new jobs by 2017.  

 “Our new office location, centered in the midst of one of the most vibrant and dynamic learning institutions for engineering in the country, is inherently beneficial to employees and customers alike,” Michael Lipps, vice president and managing director for the LexisNexis BLSS business, said in a statement. “Centennial Campus is brimming with passion, enthusiasm and ideas for technology innovation; the university location literally represents the intersection of theoretical research with practical application.”

If it meets its hiring and investment requirements, LexisNexis will receive a Job Development Investment Grant of nearly $9 million from the North Carolina Department of Commerce. The company currently employs 247 people at 2000 Regency Parkway in Cary and expects to complete its relocation by the end of 2014.

In other news, the NewsObserver reports that Greystar Real Estate Partners of Charleston, S.C. has acquired a 2-acre site on the north side of downtown Raleigh, where it plans to develop a new apartment community.  LNR Property Corp., the lead developer behind the Blount Street Commons project, sold the property for $4.7 million.

Photo credits: www.loopnet.com