SubscribeKannapolis, North Carolina, where more than 4,000 textile workers lost their jobs in 2003 when the Pillowtex plant closed, will be reborn as a major U.S. center for research and business in nutrition, agriculture, health and biotechnology if California billionaire David H. Murdock has his way.
Murdock, owner of Dole Food Co., announced ambitious plans in September 2005 for a 350-acre research campus intended to bring investments of up to $1 billion, create 5,000 technology jobs and 30,000 supporting jobs, and attract 100 biotechnology companies. As envisioned, the project would be the largest biotech development in state history and one of the largest nationwide.
Speaking to a crowd of 1,000 state leaders and residents of the Kannapolis area, where he has a second home and owns commercial property and land, Murdock said construction would begin within three months on the site of the Pillowtex plant he owns and is tearing down. Kannapolis, a town of about 38,000 people, is about 30 miles northeast of Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city.
“This is the most exciting day . . . of my entire life,” said Murdock, a vegetarian whose passion for health, nutrition and fitness has left him vigorous and youthful looking at age 82.
Murdock will partner with the University of North Carolina System, which plans to ask the state’s General Assembly to invest $16 million in laboratory equipment and then about $25 million annually for ongoing operations once the research campus is up and running. The project is supported by House Speaker Jim Black and Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight, who both attended the announcement.
Three campuses of the UNC System – N.C. State University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte – are expected to have a major presence on the campus, along with Duke University.
Murdock said the development would total 1 million square feet of lab and office space and an additional 350,000 square feet of retail and residential space. His real estate development company, Castle & Cook, will manage the project.
- The development, to be called the North Carolina Research Campus, is expected to include:An Institute for Excellence in Nutrition led by UNC-Chapel Hill that will conduct research in nutrition and its link to obesity, cancer and the brain.
- An Institute for Advanced Fruit and Vegetable Science led by N.C. State University, focusing on the production of fruits and vegetables in North Carolina and the Southeast.
- The Dole Research Institute, specializing in research on fruits and vegetables and nutrition.
- A core research laboratory that will include space for biotechnology companies to rent
- A private science and math high school for girls
- 700 homes
- A 125-room hotel and conference facility for scientific meetings
Also, Murdock said negotiations were under way with the state Community College System to build a 40,000-square-foot training center on the campus to retrain laid-off textile workers for biotechnology jobs.
Laboratory Corp. of America, headquartered in Burlington, has already committed to having a facility on the campus, and Murdock said other biotechnology companies are being recruited. He said he would invest $100 million of his own money in a venture capital fund to help establish young companies at the campus.