NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The latest tenant at the HELIX, the planned tech/science/pharma hub currently under construction in New Brunswick, was just announced this week:
Portal Innovations, a venture capital firm that invests in the life sciences, is the newest private firm that will rent space at the HELIX.
Their tenancy was announced May 15 by the New Brunswick Development Corporation (DEVCO), which is leading HELIX development. The HELIX, which stands for the Health & Life Science Exchange, is being built on a five-acre lot directly across from the New Brunswick train station. It will house collaborative research labs from Rutgers, Hackensack Meridian, RWJBarnabas, Nokia Bell Labs and others when it opens.
Portal will join these other institutions that are already confirmed to move into the HELIX:
- Rutgers University
- Hackensack Meridian Health
- Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health
- Nokia Bell Labs, which plans to leave their current headquarters in Murray Hill (Berkeley Heights in Union County) and relocate to the HELIX in 2028. Nokia will relocate approximately 1,000 employees to New Brunswick, and make it their new global headquarters for research & development. Nokia Bell Labs says it is currently working on cutting-edge research in 6G, AI and industrial automation.
When it’s completed, the HELIX will take up a total of 1.6 million square feet. It’s being called an “innovation district” in the heart of New Brunswick city center. As Patch previously reported, think of it as New Jersey’s answer to Silicon Valley: Gov. Phil Murphy and others envision the HELIX as a place where new AI is created, where the next vaccine or smartphone is invented or where a cure for cancer is found.
Portal, which is headquartered in Chicago, will be located in the “Innovation Hub” section of the HELIX (building H-1) and is meant to provide capital and start-up costs to life sciences startups. Portal says it will “provide researchers access to fully equipped wet lab space, seed capital, strategic resources to early-stage life sciences companies and introductions to investors and pharma partners.”
Murphy has always said that Princeton University and NJIT are welcome to rent space at the HELIX, and collaborate with Rutgers and others on research. However, neither Princeton nor NJIT has yet confirmed they will move in.
Murphy also previously said the door is “wide open” for private New Jersey companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Merck and others to rent space at the HELIX.
“Think about all Rutgers does. Think about all Princeton does,” Murphy said previously. “(They) will be able to walk down a hall and collaborate with science and pharmaceutical researchers. This is where new businesses will be born and new jobs will be created.”
“From life sciences to generative AI, we are building the future right here in the Garden State,” said Murphy this week. “The HELIX is the perfect place for Portal Innovations to place roots as they look to further their presence here in New Jersey. I look forward to witnessing the impacts of the research and discoveries that will take place in their incubator lab space.”
“HELIX NJ will house many of the world’s most brilliant minds, projects and organizations pursuing critical life-improving innovations that will have a global impact,” said DEVCO this week.
The HELIX will consist of three buildings: H-1, H-2 and H-3:
- H-1 will be the new home of Rutgers Medical School, plus an NJ Innovation Hub. The HUB will have co-working space and shared public health research labs, with the goal of being a launch pad for micro-tech and start-ups.
- H-2: Nokia plans to occupy the entire H-2 building. They are expected to move in in 2028.
- H-3 is planned to be a 42-story apartment building. If it gets built, it will be the tallest building in Central Jersey.
DEVCO said they specially wanted the HELIX built on Amtrak’s/NJ Transit’s Northeast Corridor rail line to access “the proximity of research universities and large metropolitan areas like D.C., Philadelphia, NYC and Boston, the area already has a deep talent pool of researchers, and the innovation campus and incubator space will help be a catalyst for early-stage scientific innovation.”
DEVCO also said they want to take advantage of New Brunswick’s location in the center of a state with “six established research universities, nearly 100,000 workers in the life sciences industry, and eight of the top 10 U.S. pharmaceutical companies, helping make it a global leader for breakthroughs.”
