Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have made Trammell Crow’s lab building in Fulton Market the launch point for the couple’s planned $250 million investment in biotech research in Chicago.
The Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub is leasing about 26,000 square feet in Trammell Crow’s Fulton Labs building at 1375 West Fulton Street, Crain’s reported. The new venture will employ anywhere from 30 to 50 researchers and staff at the 300,000-square-foot structure.
The arrival of CZ Biohub to Fulton Market further validates the district and the city’s status as a mecca for life sciences, tech and medical research. Google was one the first major tech companies to move to the area in 2015. Crow then started its Fulton Labs project in 2019 and has begun building two more recently.
The 1375 West Fulton property is now 85 percent leased with the inclusion of Zuckerberg’s company. The Dallas-based developer’s other two lab projects are in Hyde Park and Evanston.
Hyde Park Labs is also a 300,000-square-foot structure with a cost of around $225 million to construct. Trammell Crow has partnered with Boston-based investment firm Beacon Capital Partners to erect the building, which is set to be completed by late 2024. The University of Chicago has agreed to lease out 55,000 square feet of the 14-story building, with researchers from the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering occupying a portion of the space
Zuckerberg’s and Chan’s Fulton Market lab project is set to bring together three higher learning institutions: University of Chicago, Northwestern University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Its facilities are meant to attract top researchers and scientists who undertake endeavors such as finding cures for diseases.
Trammell’s other tenants in the Fulton Lab building include injectable drug maker Xeris Biopharma Holdings, which expanded its Chicago real estate footprint last year with a 13-year lease for 87,000 square feet at 1375 West Fulton Street.
— Quinn Donoghue
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