A Research Triangle Park company is in negotiations to invest $60 million in a new data center in a Garner industrial park.

Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams said the economic development project was discussed by th Town Council in a closed session Thursday evening. Williams said the town has not been told the identity of the company.

Boston-based Fidelity Investments, which already operates a data center in RTP, confirmed today that it is looking to expand its operations.

“Fidelity is planning for incremental growth beyond the capacity we have at our existing data center facility,” Fidelity spokesman Vin Loporchio wrote in an e-mail. “Beyond that, however, we do not have anything to announce at this point.”

Williams said Wake County economic development officials have code named the project “F,” and have told Garner officials that the company has an existing presence in RTP.

Ken Atkins, executive director of Wake County Economic Development, declined to comment.

Williams said the company is looking at the Greenfield South industrial park near the intersection of U.S. 70 and Interstate 40.

He said the Town Council has been told the project would create between 20 to 35 jobs.

PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, a privately held protein engineering company in Research Triangle Park, announced today that it has raised $25 million in venture capital funding.

Lead investors in the Series B round were New Enterprise Associates and OSI Investment Management, a subsidiary of OSI Pharmaceuticals. Also contributing money were Hatteras Venture Partners, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. and Fletcher Spaght Ventures.

PhaseBio also announced several new additions to the company's board of directors, including Robert Ingram, a vice chairman of GlaxoSmithKline and a current partner at RTP-based Hatteras Venture Partners.

PhaseBio had raised about $8 Million in venture funding prior to this latest round.

The company's CEO is Dr. Christopher Prior, who previously founded BioRexis Pharmaceuticals, a firm that was acquired by Pfizer in 2007.

Syngenta Biotechnology paid $10.7 million for 50 acres of land and a 110,000 square foot building located next to the company's Research Triangle Park campus on Cornwallis Road.

The company announced earlier this month that it had the land under contract and would use it as a possible expansion site. It also said it had leased 100,000 square feet of additional space at the Keystone Building on Davis Drive in RTP.

Syngenta employs more than 400 people at its global biotech research center in RTP. The company develops genetically engineered seeds that promise to produce larger harvests and be more resistant to disease, pests and drought.

Syngenta owns 200,000 square feet of space on Cornwallis Road. The 110,000 square foot building the company purchased is located at 9 Davis Drive and was built in 1967.

A company spokeswoman said earlier this month that Syngenta plans to move employees from the Cornwallis site to the newly leased space so that it can build out its lab space.

Syngenta has been in RTP since 1984. Its operations include laboratories, offices and greenhouses.

A risk-management consulting firm plans to move its headquarters to Research Triangle Park from Baton Rouge, La., and create 430 local jobs over the next six years.

IEM, which was founded in 1985, helps government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency assess threats to people, infrastructure and information. The company was attracted to the Triangle by "its highly educated workforce, history of innovation, and culture of public and private collaboration," said CEO Madhu Beriwal, left, in a prepared statement.

Syngenta Biotechnology is expanding its footprint in Research Triangle Park.

The company has leased 100,000 square feet of additional space in RTP and signed a contract to purchase 50 acres of land as a possible future expansion site.

"RTP has been a great place for SBI to grow and flourish over the years," said Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, Syngenta's president and global head of biotechnology research & development. "The employment applicant pool is top-notch and the scientific community is active and thriving, making the area a prime location for potential expansion of our facilities and continued generation of industry-leading ideas."

Syngenta employs more than 400 people at its global biotech research center in RTP. The company develops genetically engineered seeds that promise to produce larger harvests and be more resistant to disease, pests and drought.

Jane Bachmann, a spokeswoman for Syngenta, said the company is leasing 100,000 square feet of space at the Keystone Building on Davis Drive. The company owns 200,000 square feet of space on Cornwallis Road in RTP.

"The intention is to move many of our employees who sit at the Cornwallis site to that leased space so we can build out the labs," Bachmann said.

A plasma center in Eagle Pass, Texas run by Talecris Biotherapeutics was featured in a Sunday New York Times article about the practice of locating the plasma centers along the Mexican border and in areas with high rates of poverty and drug abuse.
In the article, Bruce Nogales, who runs plasma collection for Talecris, says the same precautions are taken at the border as everywhere else the company collects plasma.
“I don’t understand the difference between having a center in El Paso and having a center in Columbus, Ohio,” Nogales told the paper. Nine of Talecris’s 71 collection centers, including four new ones, are on the border, the article notes. Talecris, which is based in Research Triangle Park, also operates a plasma center in Clayton.

The Social Security Administration will employ about 200 people at a new site in Research Triangle Park that will act as the agency's headquarters in the Durham area.
Highwoods Properties announced last week that the SSA had leased 68,000 square feet of office space in its Pamlico office building. Highwoods leased the space to the General Services Organization for use by the SSA.
A spokesperson for the SSA said the agency has been hiring people for the headquarters since 2008 and will continue to fill positions locally and through relocations. The RTP office will provide IT and administrative services for the SSA.
The GSO signed a 10-year lease with Highwoods.

The national press is shining spotlights on challenges facing two icons of the Triangle business scene.

On Monday, Business Week wrote about the planned evolution of Research Triangle Park from an industrial park dominated by large companies to a mixed development with more shops and housing. And on Sunday, the New York Times wrote a meaty profile of SAS and the challenges the Cary-based software company faces.

The Business Week article, "Reimagining the Science Park in North Carolina,"  focuses mostly on Rick Weddle, CEO of the Research Triangle Foundation, which manages RTP, and his ideas for making the park feel livelier. That includes adding more amenities that cater to RTP workers.

"Over time, this will tip to where it's even more about the people," says Weddle, left, who has run the foundation for five years.

Highwoods Properties announced today that the Social Security Administration has leased 68,000 square feet of office space in Research Triangle Park.
The space is located in Highwoods' Pamlico office building. Highwoods leased the space to the General Services Organization for use by the SSA. The deal was a 10-year lease that brings Pamlico's occupancy to 95.1 percent.
The GSA's Defense Logistics Information Service already has a presence in RTP. The service provides IT solutions for the Defense Department and other federal agencies.

Local economic development boosters tried to put Sony Ericsson's decision to close its Research Triangle Park operations in a positive light, but admitted the news is a big blow.

"You can spin that any way you like, but losing 425 jobs is a big deal," said Charles A. Hayes, CEO of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership.

Hayes said he was caught off guard by this morning's announcement but that it's part of the natural "churn" of business. His group, which works to attract and retain business in this area, now is in discussions with 39 new companies that are interested in expanding here, representing 15,000 potential new jobs.

"We won't get all of those, obviously, but we're up," Hayes said.