Eli Lilly and Company opened a 44,000‑square‑foot Gateway Labs (LGL) facility at 2300 Market Street in Philadelphia’s Center City on November 19, 2025. The site was developed and is operated by Breakthrough Properties, a joint venture of Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, and is designed to provide early‑stage biotech companies with fully equipped wet‑lab space, cold storage, centrifuges, an autoclave, and on‑site concierge and lab‑operations staff.
The new location expands Lilly’s existing Gateway Labs network, which already includes Boston, South San Francisco, and San Diego, and adds a presence in a city that is a major hub for life‑science talent and academic research. The Philadelphia site also joins the network’s international locations in Beijing and Shanghai, underscoring Lilly’s commitment to a global open‑innovation footprint.
The facility offers more than just laboratory space. In addition to state‑of‑the‑art infrastructure, the building provides shared amenities such as a café, conference rooms, and a fitness center, and hosts other tenants, including Legend Biotech’s cell‑therapy research lab. These resources create a collaborative ecosystem that allows resident companies to access Lilly’s scientific expertise and accelerate the development of next‑generation medicines.
Julie Gilmore, vice president and global head of Lilly Gateway Labs, said the Philadelphia site “builds on the city’s legacy of biotech innovation and provides early‑stage companies with the infrastructure and thought partners they need to navigate discovery through early clinical development.” Daniel D’Orazi, chief investment officer at Breakthrough Properties, added that the partnership “will facilitate and accelerate the emergence of the next generation of great Philadelphia life‑science companies.”
The Gateway Labs model has already raised more than $3 billion and advanced over 50 therapeutic programs since 2019, and the new Philadelphia site is expected to contribute to Lilly’s pipeline by providing access to cutting‑edge research and potential collaboration opportunities. By embedding itself in a vibrant biotech ecosystem, Lilly positions itself to tap into external scientific advances and potentially accelerate its own drug‑discovery efforts.
Philadelphia’s proximity to institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and major medical centers makes it an attractive location for early‑stage ventures. Lilly’s open‑innovation strategy, which includes AI‑driven drug discovery platforms and a focus on genetic medicines, aligns with the city’s strengths in gene therapy, CAR‑T, and Alzheimer’s research, creating a synergistic environment for both Lilly and its resident companies.
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