Bridge Labs is expanding downtown Dallas’ biotech operations in a 23-acre mixed-use office campus known as Pegasus Park.
The Dallas City Council touted its commitment to biomedical and health research during a June 14 council meeting by awarding a $3 million economic development grant, along with about $5 million in other incentives.
The funds will go to Bridge Labs for the construction of 135,000 square feet of research and development space and lab suites for growth-stage life sciences entrepreneurs and companies.
Pegasus Park is adjacent to the Dallas Design District and Dallas Medical District.
Bridge Labs will be the first institutional-quality, non-incubator space in the region, city officials said.
Pegasus Park
The Dallas Economic Development Department highlighted the momentum of “the life science ecosystem” at Pegasus Park. Bridge Labs has forged partnerships with UT Southwestern, TAYSHA Gene Therapies, McKesson, Health Wildcatters, BioLabs Colossal, ReCode, etiraRX, and BioNTX.
Construction of the Bridge Labs site is slated for completion in the summer of 2024.
Council members unanimously approved the incentives package during last month’s meeting with little discussion — an unusual occurrence when a hefty incentives package is involved.
District 6 Councilman Omar Narvaez said the research occurring at Pegasus Park will change the world.
“Thanks to the genius of many people and also funding from Lyda Hill Philanthropies, a couple of years ago we were able to open this building with these labs inside. It’s mainly biolabs with incubators. The organization literally thought it would take five years to fill it, and it got filled in a year. That’s how bad we need this space in the City of Dallas.”
Companies are moving from across the country to do biotech research in Dallas, Narvaez added.
“A whole compound has now been created and it is igniting this area that used to be desolate,” he said. “This is an area that when I first became a council member I said, ‘If we would focus on this area and show a little bit of love to this area, what could happen?’ If you go around this area, you’ll see that changes are happening and growth is happening. That’s increasing our tax base, bringing in new jobs, bringing in better jobs, and making sure the City of Dallas prospers as we move forward.”
City leaders said the investment in Bridge Labs better positions Pegasus Park and Dallas in its bid to be the site of the future headquarters of the National Institutes of Health’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.
