The Discovery Labs, which was formed by MLP Ventures, is developing a $500 million healthcare, life sciences and tech co-working community at the former GlaxoSmithKline facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
When completed, the campus will feature a 1.6 million-square-foot collaborative laboratory as well as the 640,000-square-foot Innovation at Renaissance Campus. The idea is to turn the site into the world’s largest co-working “ecosystem” for healthcare, life sciences and tech-enabled companies.
GSK continues to operate a sterile injectables manufacturing plant on its East Campus in Upper Merion, Pennsylvania.
“The size of each Discovery Labs enables enterprise level companies to work side by side with startup and emerging companies and enjoy the benefits of the co-working phenomenon,” Audrey Greenberg, Discovery Labs' chief executive, said in a statement. “It is the first of a network of massive co-working properties which will encourage powerful, collaborative innovation on an international scale.”
GSK sold the site last year for a reported $77 million to O’Neill Properties, which later became MLP Ventures.
A major attraction at the campus will be a 100-square-foot incubator operated by the Pennsylvania Biotech Center that will be dubbed IQ Connect. The space will be designed to attract millennial workers by offering on-site coffee shops and restaurants, a $10 million conference center with a 275-seat auditorium and a fitness center that will offer yoga and Pilates classes. They also plan to include walking trails and an outdoor amphitheater.