200-acre life sciences hub set for Legacy Business Park From the cover
Why it matters
What’s happening
Plano Director of Special Projects Peter Braster said the new life sciences campus will diversify the city’s economic base with an industry that does not have much of a presence in Plano. Joseph J. Pancrazio, vice president for research and innovation at The University of Texas at Dal- las, said the Texas Research Quarter will become part of an emerging life sciences economy in Texas. Other North Texas projects include Dallas’ Pegasus Park and the federal government’s reloca- tion of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health’s customer experience center to Dallas. “We’re at this inection point where we’re seeing rapid growth,” Pancrazio said. Additionally, life sciences hubs, such as the Texas Research Quarter, will include the capacity to research and manufacture therapies within the same campus. That is similar to what has been done with semiconductor research and production in North Texas, Pancrazio said. That ability to house the development of medication from conception to manufacturing is also what makes the Texas Research Quarter so valuable, Plano Director of Economic Develop- ment Doug McDonald added. “We have these top-tier universities that are spitting out a lot of great research and a lot of great companies, but there’s no place for them here, and they eventually migrate to the East Coast or the West Coast,” he said. “When these companies do get successful, we now have the space in Plano.” The potential research hospital will also allow for what Pancrazio called early trials of therapies to demonstrate their feasibility.
manufacturing space, according to documents from NexPoint. Additionally, the city is considering a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, which would allow the city to capture growing property tax revenues in and around the development and reinvest them into projects aimed at further growth. Muns said the transformation of the headquarters will allow the public to appreciate the campus in a new way. “It’s always been covered up to a certain degree when it was rst built,” Plano Mayor John Muns said. “People will really see how amazing that building is, and enjoy the gardens and the surroundings.”
Zaccanelli said there are plans to invest around $1 billion within the project’s rst phase. That will help set up future development of the site that will ultimately include room for research and development, oce space, and manufacturing areas in and around the old Electronic Data Systems headquarters. He added the rst phase, which will encompass 4 million square feet of space, will likely result in the creation of 2,000 jobs in Plano. The development will also include at least a 9-acre park and nearly 800 mid-rise residential units, the latter of which is set to come in the nal phase of development. The residential and hotel uses planned for later stages of development will be allowed once requirements are met for park, oce and
The plan
The nal phase of the life sciences development can be developed once 7 acres of park space is built and a certicate of occupancy is issued for both 946,700 square feet of oce space and 375,000 square feet of manufacturing space.
Phase 1
Includes renovation of an existing garage, the addition of a production or manufacturing building, renovation of the southern section of the main central building and open space improvements Will include renovation of the remainder of the central building, two oce or lab buildings, a north parking garage and an additional manufacturing building Will include construction of three mid-rise residential buildings, a hotel and a parking garage Phase 3 Phase 2
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The redevelopment will be anchored by updating the old Electronic Data Systems headquarters.
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SOURCES: NEXPOINT DEVELOPMENT, CITY OF PLANOCOMMUNITY IMPACT
RENDERING COURTESY NEXPOINT
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