Savills Studley Arranges Deal for Locus Biosciences in North Carolina

Savills Studley client Locus Biosciences has signed a lease to take almost 24,000 square feet of office and lab space at Keystone Technology Park. The biotechnology company recently acquired California-based competitor EpiBiome, bringing those employees to North Carolina. Locus expects to have 30 employees on staff by the end of the year.

“As our company continues exponential growth, we needed additional space to scale our team to support upcoming clinical trials, which are slated to begin in the first quarter of 2019,” said Paul Garofolo, CEO of Locus Biosciences.

At 806,000 square feet, Keystone Technology Park is one of Research Triangle's premier life science and technology developments, housing state-of-the-art labs and highly innovative workspace. The landlord, Longfellow Real Estate Partners, bought the park for $117.7 million in 2015. Locus’ move into the Class-A space at Keystone Tech 8, located at 523 Davis Drive, puts it next to other leading research and technology companies in the Triangle. The lease pushes total occupancy at the campus to 93 percent. Recent Keystone tenants also include Freudenberg IT, Affordable Care and Laird Technologies, among others.

Savills Studley Corporate Managing Director Marlene Spritzer advised on site selection and represented Locus in negotiations. Neill Sherron of Longfellow represented the landlord.

“The Research Triangle Park area is extremely tight for life sciences tenants looking for space,” said Spritzer. “We were fortunate to secure a large block of space at Keystone in a matter of weeks for Locus Biosciences to continue expanding its cutting-edge CRISPR technology research and clinical trials.”