The headline of this story was corrected Oct. 7. An explanation follows the text.

The county approved Thursday plans of the first developer to make a bid for new space in the Life Sciences Center, opening the possibility of 500 to 700 new life sciences jobs at the center within seven years.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. can now build up to 263,000 square feet more research and development space on its 18-acre site at 9800 Medical Center Drive, adding to the 281,000 square feet it leases.

The county planning board was able to approve the company’s plan Thursday, after opening the first stage of new development in the Life Sciences Center, about 900 acres between Rockville and Gaithersburg designated within the Great Seneca Science Corridor master plan to become a bioscience hub.

Developers have not been able to bid on land in the center since June 2010, when the county adopted a new master plan for the corridor that included staging requirements which restrict development in the Life Sciences Center, according to Patrick Butler, a county planner.

The opening of the first stage will eventually allow developers to bid on 400,000 square feet of additional commercial space and 2,500 additional housing units in the center.

Alexandria Real Estate’s plan includes adding two research and development buildings, one four stories and one six stories, and one seven-story parking lot to its campus, which now has four multi-story research and development buildings.

Scott Roberts of Alexandria said at the planning board meeting that the additional space will allow the current tenants, which include Advanced Bioscience Laboratories and the National Institutes of Health, to expand, and will allow the developer to accommodate additional future tenants.

The new buildings will be on the site of existing parking lots, Butler said.

Staging requirements restrict development in the center until the county meets construction and funding goals for the Corridor Cities Transitway, a proposed 14-mile rapid transit system linking Gaithersburg and Clarksburg, along with other transportation goals.

With the restrictions, the county can ensure that traffic levels are maintained and public facilities such as a mixed-use path system and improved pedestrian crossings are in place before new workers and residents are on the roads.

Alexandria Real Estate is required to extend eastbound left turn lanes on Key West Avenue and build a third through approach lane on Great Seneca Highway, according to the preliminary plan. The company must meet several other environmental and transportation conditions.

The Life Sciences Center, which has 7 million square feet of existing commercial space and 3,300 existing and approved housing units, will, within 25 to 35 years, build out to 17.5 million square feet of life sciences space and 9,000 residences.

jbondeson@gazette.net

The headline was corrected to state that 400,000 square feet of new commercial space will be allowed in the first stage