Matan Finishes First Building at Former Leidos Campus in Gaithersburg
12 January 2023
Matan Cos. has completed the first of two speculative buildings on Leidos' former corporate campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland, as part of an initiative to bring 2 million square feet of biomanufacturing-ready space to the Interstate 270 corridor.
The two-building Progress Labs at Progress Way is located on 44 acres that front I-270 near the Montgomery County Fairgrounds and Lakeforest Mall, which is being prepped for redevelopment. At completion, the project is slated to total more than 400,000 square feet of speculative space that is being marketed for headquarters, biotech and lab facilities, or distribution.
Matan, which is developing and leasing the project in-house, completed the first building at 700 Progress Way, with the company expected to complete the second building at 750 Progress Way next month.
Matan paid $32.4 million in 2019 to acquire government contractor Leidos' former campus at 700 N. Frederick Ave. At the time, the Frederick-based company said the site offered a "rare redevelopment opportunity" with the potential for a corporate headquarters, biotech lab facility, “last mile” distribution location or big-box retail site.
In 2020, the company appeared to be nearing a deal with Amazon to build an $80-plus million distribution center for the e-commerce giant at the site. However, hand-wringing over the proposed site plan and the type of jobs the retail giant would create delayed the project and subsequently led Amazon to nix the development altogether.
In response, Matan shifted gears to redevelop the site for biotech manufacturing, research and potentially office use, leaning into growing demand for life sciences space in one of the top biotech clusters in the country.
The project advances Progress Labs, Matan's six-building development that has been proposed to total more than 2 million square feet between the National Institute of Health campus in Bethesda and Fort Detrick in Frederick.
The 700 Progress Way building totals 225,000 square feet and features a 32-foot clear height, 50 dock doors and outdoor amenity space.