NexPoint plans massive life-sciences campus in Plano

Texas takes another step toward status as a life sciences hub.

A Dallas-based real estate company is planning a 200-acre life sciences development for the TxS District in Plano.

NexPoint plans to develop the project at the center of the former 91-acre EDS Campus in Plano, the Dallas Business Journal reported. The project would create more than 4 million square feet of lab, office and therapeutic space.

The investment firm is working with the City of Plano to finalize development plans. Construction will be completed in four phases. The first two will include the conversion of two existing buildings into 970,000 square feet of lab and office space with 120,000 square feet of amenities. Plans also call for a public park, amphitheater and connective corridor to the Legacy retail center to the west.

NexPoint will collaborate with CRB, a provider of sustainable engineering, architecture, construction and consulting services to the life sciences industry, for all four proposed construction phases. NexPoint has tapped JLL to manage leasing.

“The TxS project would be unique in its ability to support life science companies at any point in the process: discovery, early-stage development and commercialization,” JLL’s Matt Daniels said in a media release.

The firm bought the main campus in 2018 and since then has purchased the surrounding land.

“Not only would this project be a major economic catalyst for the region, but it would also establish North Texas as a leader in life sciences,” said James Dondero, NexPoint founder and principal.

While Texas dominates many sectors of the real estate industry, no city in Texas is in the top ten for life sciences real estate, according to JLL. Houston has the largest medical center in the world, and its suburbs are home to more than 1,700 life sciences companies, the brokerage reported in December.

“Top life sciences clusters continue to stay strong, but emerging markets are currently planting the seeds for long-term opportunities,” the report stated.

An abundance of purpose-built lab space is key to the market, it said. Other factors that drive the life-sciences market include an abundance of talent, that is, college graduates with science, engineering and technology degrees.

— Victoria Pruitt