Morrisville-based Millennium Print Group, a manufacturer of trading card games and collectible cards, is expected to expand at Spark LS in what is believed to be one of the biggest industrial lease deals this year.
A development group says it struck a deal to fill almost 1.3 million square feet of industrial space in Morrisville to serve as the North American hub for a global manufacturer — believed to be one of the biggest U.S. industrial leases of the year.
Affiliates of Starwood Capital Group and Charlotte-based Trinity Capital Advisors said a Morrisville-based global manufacturer signed a deal to take the space at Spark LS, a mixed-use life sciences and advanced manufacturing campus near the intersection of McCrimmon Parkway and Airport Boulevard.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Spokespeople for Starwood and Trinity declined to identify the tenant.
“This Morrisville-based global company’s decision to establish a major presence at Spark LS is a transformative milestone, both for our campus and for the region’s advanced manufacturing ecosystem,” Tyson Strutzenberg, a managing director at Trinity Capital, said in a statement.
People familiar with the transaction confirmed to WRAL that the tenant involved in the deal is Morrisville-based Millennium Print Group (MPG), a manufacturer of trading card games and collectible cards. The company is a subsidiary of the Pokémon Co. International. It has locations in North Carolina and the Netherlands.
The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the company’s plans.
The deal comes as sales of trading cards have surged in recent years.
WRAL News reached out to MPG for comment, in which officials responded that they signed a long-term lease for this new campus in an effort to support the manufacturer's continued growth and provide additional space to securely deliver high-quality products for fans.
"Planning, design, and construction will take place over the next several years," officials said. "There are no immediate changes to current facilities or employee work locations."
Pokémon card products in particular have fueled much of that popularity. Since they began producing trading cards in 1996, more than 75 billion Pokémon cards have been printed.
Of that total, more than half were printed in the last four years.
Despite the billions of cards being printed, several fans have struggled finding product at stores, leading to several Triangle residents waiting outside of trading card shops for releases of new sets, which happen every two to three months.
In March, The Pokémon Company acknowledged the struggle fans were having due to "very high demand impacting availablility."
"For new Pokémon TCG expansions launching in the future, we are maximizing production to increase product availability upon release, and we will continue to reprint impacted sets to replenish stocks at participating retailers," Pokémon said.
Upfit of the existing Spark LS buildings is scheduled to begin in early 2026, with operations expected to commence in late 2028.
In addition to the existing buildings totaling more than 400,000 square feet, affiliates of Starwood and Trinity plan to expand the campus with an 866,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility and parking deck, the groups said. The expansion is expected to bring the company’s footprint at Spark to about 1.27 million square feet. Construction of the new facility is scheduled to begin in 2026 and wrap up in 2027.
The transaction leaves 150,000 square feet of existing space unleashed at Spark and room to build more on the 108-acre campus situated near Research Triangle Park, Trinity said in a news release.
919-324-9407
Service Areas
