Onyx Equities Signs Tenant at New Jersey Tech Campus

Still Bright Inc., of Newark, N.J., has signed a 15,000-square-foot leasing agreement at NEST’s Building 15, where it expects to build a demonstration/pilot unit capable of producing about 500 metric tons of copper per year.

The 15 NEST is a five-story, approximately 1.2 million-square-foot Class B R&D, biomanufacturing and office building reflecting ongoing demand for lab space in specialized research environments. The facility was formerly the global research headquarters building for Merck. A joint venture between Onyx and Machine Investment Group acquired the 108-acre property in February 2023.

Onyx noted that due to the turnkey nature of the space at NEST, Still Bright can occupy the space within 60 days. Still Bright wants its pilot plant to be connected to their research labs, and NEST gave them the ability to get their lab operational more quickly and cost-effectively than any other option, an Onyx spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive.

Still Bright relocates its global headquarters

The space will also serve as Still Bright’s global headquarters. The firm is relocating from the HAX Accelerator also in Newark, the incubator where it proved out its technology. HAX is operated by SOSV, a pre-seed deep-tech venture capital firm.

The firm’s mission is to help fill the growing gap between traditional copper extraction and the surging demand for copper needed by electric vehicles and AI data centers. The company’s technology aims to provide a less expensive, more efficient way to refine copper metal, in some cases from ores that are considered difficult to refine.

Last July, CoreWeave acquired a three-story, 280,000-square-foot building at NEST from Onyx and Machine Investment Group for $322 million, after having leased it the previous year, with plans to convert the asset into a data center. In December, CoreWeave landed a $555 million loan from GLAS USA for the $1.8 billion, 250 MW conversion project, which is expected to be completed in 2027.