Construction is officially underway on Parkside Commerce Center, a four-building, 809,141-square-foot Class-A industrial campus on Silicon Drive in Durham, parked right next to Research Triangle Park. The project is rolling out in two phases and is co-owned by Hines and an Ares real estate fund. Phase I will bring two rear-load buildings totaling 521,548 square feet with 36-foot clear heights, targeting advanced-manufacturing, biomanufacturing, warehousing, distribution and e-commerce tenants.
What’s being built
According to Foundry Commercial, Phase I includes 4360 Silicon Drive (Building 1), which totals 237,824 square feet, and 4340 Silicon Drive (Building 2), which totals 283,724 square feet, and each will feature 63 trailer stalls. Phase II is set to add 4300 Silicon Drive at 172,289 square feet and 4320 Silicon Drive at 115,304 square feet, bringing the campus to about 809,141 square feet in total.
“The RTP/I-40 submarket’s Class A vacancy rate has remained near historic lows,” Jeff Stephens, partner at Foundry Commercial, said in the release. Foundry has been tapped as the exclusive leasing team for the project and is marketing suites to both local and national occupiers.
Market context and demand
Regional data show the industrial market is wrestling with a wave of new supply. Cushman & Wakefield reports Raleigh-Durham's industrial vacancy climbed to roughly 9.0% in Q1 2026 as new deliveries hit the market without full preleasing. At the same time, CBRE notes construction activity ramped up sharply in the period, pushing availability higher even as rents stayed elevated for modern, high-clear product. Developers say that tension helps explain why institutional owners keep rolling out Class-A campuses that offer larger floorplates and 36-foot clear heights.
Why RTP matters
Parkside’s spot beside RTP, with immediate access to I-40, I-540, Highway 147 and I-85, gives it a built-in edge for supply-chain and life-sciences users. Proximity to RDU International Airport and to research universities that feed the region’s advanced-manufacturing ecosystem makes the site appealing to 3PLs, biotech suppliers and hardware manufacturers. For institutional owners like Hines and Ares, those logistics perks help justify building modern, scalable warehouses in the RDU market.
Phase I is scheduled to deliver in Q4 2027, and leasing is already underway through Foundry’s Raleigh team. Expect cranes, concrete and a whole lot of steel on Silicon Drive through 2027 as the campus rises into view.
