How a former call center can transform DFW's biotech industry

A former call center and warehouse on Stemmons Freeway may be the missing piece in Dallas-Fort Worth's evolution as a biotech hub. BridgeLab held its grand opening earlier this month, transforming a previously unused 135,000-square-foot building into space that will help launch the region's next major biotech company.

Before we learn more about Bridge Labs, let's take a look at the region's biotech sector ecosystem before Bridge Labs opened. Dallas is home to one of the nation's best research centers at the University of Texas Southwestern, producing countless advances and developments each year, some of which are promising enough to start their own companies. UNT Health Science in Fort Worth, UT Dallas, UT Arlington, and TCU's School of Medicine also contribute to the region's life sciences academic output.

Anyone looking to start a brainchild needs funding and a business plan. The region is home to organizations like Health Wildcatters and MassChallenge that help entrepreneurs hone their pitches, prepare business plans, and get their ideas in front of investors. Once biotech and life science companies achieve some initial success, they may be ready to move into lab space to produce more positive results and prepare for clinical trials. This can be done in universities, but lab space has long been at a premium. Enter Pegasus Park.

Pegasus Park, a 26-acre life sciences and nonprofit development, will launch BioLabs in 2022, providing 37,000 square feet of lab, coworking and meeting space to new companies and fostering a community of innovators in the same physical space I did. As the first location on either coast, BioLabs provided necessary resources for biotech innovators looking to take advantage of the region's talent, cost of living, and growth. The space was filled in record time, proving the need for resources. But there were still problems. Companies that could raise money and grow through science had no place to expand in the region. Bridge Labs will be managed by Pegasus Park BioLab staff and will allow entrepreneurs to move into larger spaces without having to change their parking location.

Bridge Labs has converted a former call center and warehouse from the area's time as ExxonMobil's headquarters into North Texas' first institutional-quality laboratory space. It is designed to serve growing and established biotech companies. Bridge Labs provides upgraded power, backup generator capacity, lab-ready HVAC and gas services, shared space, equipment, and pre-built suites for universities and companies growing out of BioLabs space .

Pre-built lab suites range in size from 4,500 to 8,000 square feet and are available in a variety of layouts to meet client needs. Forty percent of the suites are already pre-leased, with a large and well-known anchor tenant expected to move in in the first quarter of 2025. The company will occupy a 60,000-square-foot suit suite, Steve Davis said. Mr. Davis is president of J. Small Investments. The company is one of the developers behind Pegasus Park, along with Lyda Hill Philanthropies and Montgomery Street Partners. The City of Dallas provided financial incentives and tax breaks for the project.

“Pegasus Park, BioLab, and now BridgeLab are critical parts of the economic engine, driving highly desirable STEM-related jobs to Dallas and West Dallas, as well as fostering significant innovation across the life sciences. Dallas City Councilman Omar Narváez said. Opening of Bridge Labs.

Davis said Bridge Labs' primary demographic will be companies with more than two to six employees working toward or on clinical trials. Most companies stay at BioLabs for about 18 months and then, if things go well, they need to move elsewhere. This growth stage is an important step in growth if a company wants to make a profit. This space will allow companies to start clinical trials and prove concepts at a scale that allows them to raise funding and eventually move into their own space. Retaining entrepreneurs at this stage could be critical to the growth of the industry as a whole. And if a company outgrows Bridge Lab space, Davis says Pegasus Park can keep it on campus.

Pegasus Park has the space and capacity to build a 1 million square foot manufacturing facility should a company wish to remain in the development. “If we need to build something for them, we can do it here,” Davis said. “The company could live here for the rest of its life.”

The first tenants arriving in January will benefit from cross-pollination in the development. Adjacent buildings house BioLabs entrepreneurs, and the headquarters building also houses educational institutions such as Health Wildcatters, UT Southwestern, MassChallenge, SMU and Uplift Education, creating potential for synergies and internship opportunities. There is a gender.

Pegasus Park was also selected as the home for the Customer Experience Hub of the Health Advanced Research Projects Agency, a new federal agency aimed at growing the life sciences industry across the United States. Building on what was already happening with the ARPA-H announcement and Pegasus Park, Bridge Labs will work with the fast-growing Texas Research Quarter on the former EDS campus in Plano to create a space for both innovators and investors. We are building a robust ecosystem of options for you.

“We are confident that BridgeLab will continue to attract life sciences and healthcare companies and institutions to the region, resulting in additional intellectual capital, top-quality, high-paying technical jobs, and access to cutting-edge science. We are confident that access will increase,” said Sam Johnson, principal at Montgomery Street Partners.

As CBRE noted last year, DFW has long been an emerging biotech market. Industry insiders and those interested in the region's economic growth are already hopeful that DFW will emerge and become a powerhouse. Bridge Labs may be the missing link to make that happen.