Lenovo Building $84 Million Office Campus Near Research Triangle Park

Commercial Property News - November 1, 2005

Lenovo USA Inc. has signed a record-breaking build-to-suit deal with Duke Realty Corp. to occupy 500,000 square feet of office space in a three-building corporate campus in Morrisville, N.C. The Perimeter Park development project is estimated to cost about $70 million, while the lease is reportedly worth about $100 million.

"I'm not aware if there has ever been a lease this large in Raleigh," said Andrew Kelton, senior vice president of Duke's Raleigh operations. "And it may be the largest we've done for Duke as a corporation."

Japanese PC manufacturer Lenovo bought IBM Think Pad in May and is now consolidating 578,000 square feet of inherited space in Raleigh's Research Triangle Park. Lenovo was able to sign its 10-year lease at below market rate and it was given $16 million worth of tax incentives from local and state authorities. It also has a development option for a fourth property in the park.

The first two buildings in the campus, both five stories with 179,000 square feet, will include mainly offices with some lab space. Building Three will include 143,000 square feet on four floors. Though initial design renderings are still being tweaked to reflect Lenovo's high-tech image, the groundbreaking for Building One has been moved up to next month, with an expected completion of January 2007. Building Two should be finished by February 2007, and Building Three in early 2009.

Kelton said that he believes his company was able to win the huge contract in part because of Perimeter Park's prime location, near Interstate 540 and the Raleigh/Durham International Airport. It already has 2 million square feet of offices in the park, with 1 million square feet of developable space. Sphere: Related Content