Crescent, Nuveen Launch Next Phase of $1B Life Science Campus

Crescent Communities and Nuveen Real Estate broke ground on the second phase of THE YIELD Holly Springs, a 2 million-square-foot life science campus in North Carolina’s Research Triangle. The partners are planning three speculative, shell-ready cGMP biomanufacturing buildings totaling 322,000 square feet at the Holly Springs, N.C., site.

The first two buildings located at the site at 11651 Holly Springs New Hill Road will be ready for tenant upfit in September 2023, and will be completed by the end of 2023. The third building will be completed in the spring of 2024. The space was designed to maximize flexibility for future users, including increased structural reinforcement to allow for mezzanine space, increased insulation, multiple options for utility connectivity and layouts to accommodate a wide variety of tenant upfits.

Phase 2 building of THE YIELD Holly Springs. Image courtesy of Crescent Communities

In connection with the project, the developers will also deliver more than a half-mile of greenway, a 1-acre amenity green to foster collaboration and community, and connectivity to retail both on site and off site in the Holly Springs’ Business Park.

READ ALSO: MBH Architects on Trends in Bay Area Life Science Design

Elizabeth McMillan, vice president – Development at Crescent Communities, said in a prepared statement they are confident businesses seeking certainty, speed to market and biomanufacturing purpose-built product will find THE YIELD Holly Springs is well positioned to suit their needs. She called it a significant milestone furthering the Holly Springs’ biomanufacturing cluster.

Crescent and Nuveen announced in February 2022 that they had acquired 120 acres in Holly Springs to expand THE YIELD, a $500 million life science campus that was already under development. The additional 120 acres meant the project could be expanded to as much as 2 million square feet of biomanufacturing, office/lab and retail space. The campus, now estimated to cost more than $1 billion to develop, is designed to provide options for small, mid-size and large biotech companies to create spaces tailored to their needs.

Multi-phase development

Phase 1, comprising 210,000 square feet of biomanufacturing space on 27 acres, was sold in December to a partnership between Apollo Global Real Estate Management and GeneSuites, according to Crescent. It is now known as Catalyst BioCampus.

The second phase being built in partnership with Nuveen encompasses the development of 120 acres and is designed for more than 1 million square feet of bio-manufacturing, lab/office space and campus amenities adjacent to existing anchors Seqirus and FULIFILMS Diosynth Biotechnologies. At completion, the entire campus will house up to 1 million square feet of single-story biomanufacturing buildings that feature second-floor expansion capability, 100,000 square feet of lab/office buildings and nearly 35,000 square feet of retail offerings.

As part of THE YIELD life science brand, Crescent closed in December on 83 acres of land to develop another life science campus in Holly Springs. THE YIELD North will be located along the US-1 corridor at 7511 Woods Creek. The site will accommodate up to 850,000 square feet of biomanufacturing space across a range of buildings from 75,000 to 300,000 square feet and a total of 1.3 million square feet of single-story biomanufacturing, office and lab space, with the opportunity to increase floor area by adding more stories to buildings. The campus will be adjacent to Amgen’s new manufacturing facility in Friendship Innovation Park.