The southern half of Dallas County is home to just over 1.05 million residents. That’s about 40% of the total number of people who call Dallas County home—and roughly 200,000 more than the entire population of San Francisco.

Coupled with the fact that Dallas-Fort Worth is emerging as a top life science market, as documented in a 2023 CBRE report, you can see why the DeSoto Development Corp. is including an 80-acre Life Sciences Innovation Core among its major projects.

“In terms of economic development, research shows that it’s more effective when it happens regionally,” says Matt Carlson, DDC’s chief executive.

“When you look at the other health initiatives happening in Dallas—Pegasus Park, Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, UT Southwestern at Redbird Mall, and Cypress Waters, to name a few—building a live/work hub dedicated to life science in Southern Dallas is a no-brainer,” he says.

Building on success

One critical need being addressed in DeSoto’s Life Sciences Innovation Core, now in its early stages of development, is more graduate lab space, Carlson says. Along with these labs will be residential and office space, plus a 14-acre retail area.

“We want to create a campus-like atmosphere,” he says.

The development will be a place where people in the life sciences space can live and work as they grow and scale their startups.

Image: LPA Design Studios

“They may have found a product has potential to be commercialized and they need more space and more staff,” Carlson says. “Right now, regionally there’s a gap for those organizations that want to get to the next level.”

Antoine Long, DeSoto’s economic development manager, says the Life Sciences Innovation Core is just one piece of the DDC’s current vision.

“We’re also planning for a business industrial park, a downtown DeSoto corridor, an eater-tainment district, and a sports training and medicine complex,” Long says.

In addition, officials are continuing to recruit companies to the longstanding Eagle Business & Industrial Park.

These developments will create jobs and provide services people need, Carlson and Long say. They note that, right now, there’s a 2:1 ratio of local job seekers to local job listings in the life sciences space.

In the sector’s space regionally, DFW is ranked in the top 20 across biopharma R&D and manufacturing as well as medtech.

Image: LPA Design Studios

“What you want to see is highly skilled workers following jobs, not the other way around,” Carlson says. “Because if you don’t create job opportunities where people already live, eventually they’ll leave.

“We look at the Life Sciences Innovation Core as an investment in the future—people don’t want to spend an extra two hours in traffic just to get to work.”

Breaking ground and designing a legacy

In August, the DDC and the Wildwood Development firm cut the ribbon on the new DeSoto Professional Park, where the Life Sciences Innovation Core will be located.

LPA Design Studios, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary (and its seventh in Dallas) in 2025, says this kind of project is about creating something that will benefit future generations.

Wildwood groundbreaking, August, 2024 [Photo: DeSoto Development Corporation]

“Early on, we had a chance to present the plans to DeSoto officials and key members of the community,” says D. Alex John Jr., LPA’s principal and design director. “And they were moved to tears, thinking about how this could have a lasting impact on the next generation.”

“Our motto is ‘changing lives by design,’ and we truly believe that design can improve communities and people’s lives on every project for every budget at every scale,” says Isabel Mandujano, LPA’s director of laboratory planning.

She says LPA works collaboratively with clients to set project goals in four key areas: sustainability, wellness, community experience, and performance.

“We want to complement the incredible work that’s already been started at Pegasus Park,” says Long, the DeSoto economic development manager. “If you go south from that point, you have the executive airport, Children’s Health, Methodist, then DeSoto, and end at UNT Dallas. DeSoto is the perfect spot to tie it all together.”

Image: LPA Design Studios

Carlson and Long plan to discuss opportunities with development companies in the first quarter, aiming to finalize builders and partnerships by the end of Q2.

They’ll also be talking to educational institutions about the potential for establishing satellite campuses at the new innovation core.

If all goes according to plan, groundbreaking for the initial buildings will take place early next year.

Voices contributor Nicole Ward is a data journalist for the Dallas Regional Chamber.

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