Atlanta's emerging life sciences sector notched a major victory Wednesday with the announcement of a $150M children's medical research center coming to Science Square.
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Shriners Hospitals for Children, a Tampa, Florida-based not-for-profit health network, plans to invest $153M to create the Shriners Children’s Research Institute in the shadow of Georgia Tech in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.
Shriners signed a 160K SF lease at Science Square Labs, Trammell Crow principal Katherine Lynch told Bisnow in a statement. The 368K SF building was developed by a joint venture of Trammell Crow and Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures, an affiliate of Georgia Tech.
The research facility could employ up to 470 people in cell and gene therapies, robotics, artificial intelligence, medical devices, biologics and data informatics, according to a release.
Georgia Tech and Emory announced last month that they planned to move seven research labs to Science Square Labs. GATV signed a 36K SF lease for the sixth floor of the building to house the labs exploring new ways to treat cancer, immune disease and other life-threatening illnesses.
“Today’s announcement by Shriners to open the Shriners Children’s Research Institute at Science Square is a major milestone that underscores our vision for this development as a hub for transformative research and innovation,” Lynch said in the statement. “Shriners’ commitment to pediatric research and care aligns perfectly with our mission to foster groundbreaking science in a collaborative, state-of-the-art environment.”
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The 13-story life sciences building delivered last year and has continued to sign leases despite a dramatic slowdown nationally in the sector. Duracell is moving its global research headquarters to Science Square and is expected to occupy between 50K and 70K SF, Bisnow previously reported.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture also has an 11K SF lease, and venture capital lab operator Portal Innovations took 33K SF on the building's 10th floor.
Shriners' deal means the building is at least 65% spoken for.
Trammell Crow declined to comment about how much space is still available and when the firm plans to start construction on the rest of Science Square, planned to encompass 2.1M SF of labs, office, apartments and retail at full build-out.
