Chicago’s Sterling Bay is set to launch development at Redtail Ridge, moving forward on a 2.6M SF life sciences campus in Louisville that’s been two decades in the making.
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Earthwork on the 389-acre site along U.S. 36 began the week of April 7, Sterling Bay Managing Principal Rodney Richerson told Bisnow during a phone interview. That will be followed by infrastructure work through the remainder of the year, with vertical development expected to begin late in the fourth quarter.
The launch comes at a difficult time for life sciences real estate, which has been plagued by a rush of new supply met with stifled demand for the past year. Roughly 20% of life sciences space is vacant nationwide, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The Denver area’s vacancy rate is much lower at about 11.4% at the end of 2024.
Denver metro life sciences space was sparse just a few years ago, with vacancies reaching as low as 1% in some areas. A rush of new development opened new opportunities for tenants seeking space in the area.
Sterling Bay’s first two buildings in Louisville will be flexible to suit uses including advanced manufacturing. The Louisville project will begin with two buildings totaling 250K SF, with one at 100K SF and another at 150K SF.
Advanced manufacturing “is a big demand driver with a lot of the defense and aerospace companies,” Richerson said.
Colorado ranks No. 1 in aerospace employment per capita, according to the state’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The state is home to more than 2,000 businesses in the sector which employ more than 200,000 people, directly or indirectly.
Initial plans for Redtail Ridge have also been submitted for a speculative 100K SF, two-story life sciences building, with construction likely to begin in the first quarter of 2026.
Activity is returning to Colorado’s life sciences market, Richerson said.
“We’ve actually seen a bit of a pickup over the past three or four months, both in San Diego and here in Colorado,” Richerson said. “With an 18-month build time, we see opportunities arising.”
Redtail Ridge’s scale gives it a competitive edge, Richerson said. If built out as planned, the campus would be the largest dedicated life sciences ecosystem in the state.
“There’s a lack of availability for purpose-built life sciences space,” he said. “All of these markets — San Francisco, Boston, San Diego — started in a dense little area, and users like to be next to each other. I think the scale of what we’re building will be very well received.”
Sterling Bay developments elsewhere are on an uphill slope as tenants remain hesitant.
In late March, the firm surrendered 27 acres of its Lincoln Yards site in Chicago to Bank OZK, Crain’s reported. Lincoln Yards is a $6B megaproject that broke ground in 2021 with a planned 10-year development timeline.
The land transfer was meant to cure a maturing $126M loan. Sterling Bay received a notice of default on April 1, raising fresh questions about the project's future.
Meanwhile, Bank OZK has taken two write-downs totaling nearly $38M on a separate loan to Sterling Bay tied to the same development.
Sterling Bay did not respond to additional questions about its other projects by press time.
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