Foundation Capital, Trinity Launch National Life Science Platform

Trinity Capital Advisors, of Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., and San Diego, has partnered with Foundation Capital Ventures, of Encinitas, Calif., to establish Foundation, a new Trinity Capital portfolio company that is focused on real estate solutions that support the growth of the life science, technology and innovation sectors across the U.S.

Foundation will be led by Trinity Managing Partners Denis Sullivan, Scott Altick, Walker Collier and Jeff Sheehan. Sullivan and Altick previously worked together at BioMed Realty for more than 15 years, as chief investment officer and market lead, Bay Area, respectively.

Together, Foundation’s leadership has completed more than $35 billion of life science capital market transactions and leased approximately 8 million square feet to innovation tenants.

The relationship between Foundation and Trinity began in 2022 with their collaboration on Spark LS, a $1 billion, 109-acre life science campus currently under development in Morrisville, N.C., in the Research Triangle region.

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According to a Spark LS social media post last month, the first R&D building, of 130,000 square feet, was nearly complete and ready for tenant construction. The leasing agents are Senior Director Doug Cook and Suzanna Nichols of Cushman & Wakefield.

Foundation reportedly will be supported by Trinity Capital’s institutional-quality investment platform, established relationships with capital partners, and operational and transaction experience.

Trinity’s life science portfolio currently comprises about 3 million square feet in the Research Triangle. In addition to Spark LS (eventually to total about 1.5 million square feet), the portfolio includes Southport Innovation Center, a 17-building, 911,700-square-foot life science and technology campus, also in Morrisville, and Venable Center, a 290,665-square-foot adaptive re-use development in downtown Durham, N.C.

Resuming speed

This past year, Raleigh-Durham ranked third among the nation’s top 10 life sciences clusters and is particularly strong in biomanufacturing, according to a late 2023 report from JLL. The report added that while the U.S. life science space market had a volatile time in 2023, it could be heading toward renewed vigor.

JLL noted that the increasing use of AI, along with advanced technologies specific to drug development, are helping to produce new medications for conditions from obesity to neurodegenerative diseases. And all of these are expected to ultimately drive demand for life science real estate, especially with an increasing availability of investment capital in 2024.

In November, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies signed Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Supply Group as the first tenant at Fuji’s $2 billion biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, N.C. The 1 million-square-foot development is scheduled for completion in 2025.