Bizjournals -- The Cary office of Goldsboro-based RN Rouse announced Monday that it has won the construction management contract for a new 180,000-square-foot office building on the Research Triangle Park campus of Biogen Idec.
Executives from Biogen Idec’s Massachusetts headquarters will be in RTP on April 28 to break ground for the new building, which will be known as Bio26.
The expansion of its RTP operation will allow Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB) to expand its staff and also grow its manufacturing capabilities for its pipeline of biotech drugs and for its corporate partners, says Biogen spokesman Mike McBrierty.
Triangle Business Journal reported in February that the company had revealed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission document that it was planning to build the five-story office building, but the company did not disclose the cost of the construction project.
Biogen expects to be move much of its administration staff in RTP and its patient service group in Durham into the new building in the third quarter of 2012.
The building will be registered for at least silver-level LEED certification, McBrierty says, making it the second building in the company’s portfolio up for LEED recognition.
John G. Cox, a former general manager of Biogen’s RTP campus who is now executive vice president of pharmaceutical operations and technology at the company’s headquarters in Weston, Mass., will be present at the groundbreaking event, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Esther Alegria, vice president of manufacturing and general manager of the RTP campus, also will be addressing the group.
The new building will have two wings: One with five floors of office space and one featuring a new cafeteria, conference rooms and auditorium.
Tactically, McBrierty says, the expansion will allow the company to move 275 people employed with its patient services group who are working in leased office space in Imperial Center business park back to the Biogen campus. It is also designed to ease overcrowding of the company’s office and laboratory buildings on the main campus.
Once many of the administration functions have moved into the new building, the newly vacated space will be renovated and converted into laboratory space to support Biogen Idec’s manufacturing operations in RTP, McBrierty says.
The biotech drug company employs about 850 people in the Triangle region.
“We’re pleased to move forward with this next phase of growth for our company in North Carolina,” Cox said in a statement. “As Biogen Idec’s product pipeline matures, manufacturing activity at the RTP site continues to increase. We look forward to using our expertise in biologics manufacturing to bring new therapies to patients with unmet medical needs around the world.”
Read more: Biogen Idec picks Rouse to build new RTP office | Triangle Business Journal
