United Therapeutics plans to expand once again in downtown Silver Spring, with a newly proposed deal worth over $100 million with the county.
The expansion will include a new parking garage, retail space, and land for affordable housing, increasing UT’s downtown Silver Spring footprint by 40 percent.
“The partnership and agreement we are announcing today will provide significant benefits to County residents, usher in an era of economic growth in Silver Spring, and further solidify Montgomery County’s leading biotech, life sciences and research economy,” County Executive Marc Elrich said. “United Therapeutics Corporation is revolutionizing healthcare through the development of manufactured organs for transplant. We are committed to the company’s future growth in Silver Spring, and I look forward to working with the County Council through the property disposition process.”
According to a press release, Montgomery County and UT have reached an agreement for the construction of a new public parking garage at 8615 Georgia Avenue. Additionally, the company will provide land and funding for a state-of-the-art fiber hub, as well as relocate the county’s Department of Transportation’s parking operations facility to a renovated location at 9150 Brookville Road.
The new parking garage site also includes a parcel designated for a future affordable housing development in Silver Spring.
If the County Council approves, UT will transfer ownership of the site to the county upon completing the new garage. In return, the county will transfer ownership of 8700 Cameron Street, the current Spring Cameron Parking Garage site, to United Therapeutics to accommodate the company’s future growth.
Within fifteen years of the ownership transfer, UT must invest at least $50 million in any new facility on the site. The property disposition process requires input from the public and approval from the County Council after the County Executive declares that there is no further need for the property. The county must also ensure that any property it owns is sold for its full market value.
“Montgomery County’s standing as a global biohealth leader is thanks in no small part to the commitment of United Therapeutics in Silver Spring,” said Council President Andrew Friedson. “We are so proud to partner with purpose-driven, forward-looking organizations that are willing to take risks and invest in Montgomery County while advancing lifesaving innovation.”
Since its first commercial sale in 2002, UT has seen an average annual revenue growth of over 20 percent, converted to a Public Benefit Corporation in 2021, and reached nearly $2 billion in revenues in 2022.
The county initially sold land in downtown Silver Spring to United Therapeutics in 2002 for the construction of its corporate headquarters at 1040 Spring Street. In 2015, the county sold another parcel on Spring Street to UT for the construction of its environmentally sustainable, LEED-certified Unisphere expansion, which is recognized as the world’s largest site-powered net-zero commercial office building.
The Unisphere campus, which was completed in 2018, employs 230 people and specializes in biotech, particularly in marketing therapeutics for rare diseases and developing manufactured organs for transplant to aid patients with end-stage organ diseases. UT’s DDOMAL facility, which opened alongside the Unisphere campus at Spring St. and Cameron St., produces Unituxin, a monoclonal antibody-based orphan drug treatment for pediatric neuroblastoma.
The company expanded its presence in downtown Silver Spring by purchasing office buildings at 8808 Cameron St. in 2018 and 8905 Fairview Rd. last year. Additionally, UT is set to expand the Unisphere campus, having purchased the Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites dual-brand hotel in late 2021.
Newsweek named the company one of America’s Most Responsible Companies last year.
Additional information about the UT-Montgomery County agreement can be located on the county’s Department of General Services website.
Photo: “File:United Therapeutics 05.jpg” by Farragutful is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.