From Pineapples to Penicillin: Owner of Dole Foods Begins Construction on First Phase of New North Carolina Research Campus

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Not content with just enriching the world’s population with fresh fruit and vegetables, business mogul David Murdock, owner of Dole Foods, has now set his sights on improving its health as well. Construction has begun on an ambitious project to establish a 350-acre biotech research campus in Kannapolis, North Carolina. The $150 million Core Lab building is just the first step.

Murdock, who also owns the development company Castle & Cooke, queried a number of universities in the state about their interest and need of such a project. After attracting the 16-campus University of North Carolina (UNC) system, it wasn’t long before North Carolina State, Duke University and the North Carolina Community College System also came on board. Realizing that lack of state funding was a roadblock that could prevent his vision from becoming reality, Murdock simply overcame that hurdle by funding the entire $150 million out of his own pocket.

Turner Construction has been tapped to handle construction of the five-story, 310,000 square-foot Core Lab Building. Approximately 80,000 square-feet of the new building will contain the Core Lab facility and vivarium. The remaining space will be devoted to additional laboratories and offices. Anchoring the 350-acre North Carolina Research Campus, the project is the first step in developing an entirely new biotech hub in a state already considered a major player in the industry (reference: 2006 Pharmaceutical-Biotech Forecast). In addition to eventually providing space for up to 100 private companies, as well as additional university research centers, efforts are underway to attract other commercial and residential development to the campus.

The Core lab will be filled with a stunning array of equipment, including three nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers (NMR)- 700, 800 and 900 megahertz, used to analyze molecules and their structure. Among the other features of the $150 million project will be the addition of a certified Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) biologics and small molecule production plant, a genomics laboratory and an imaging facility.

Giving validation to mothers across the globe, 10,000 square-feet of the Core Laboratory will be devoted to the newly created Dole Research Insititute. Focusing on the nutritional importance of fruits and vegetables, the institute will work in collaboration with both UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.

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