Credit Suisse sells some RTP land

Investment banking giant Credit Suisse has sold back about half its land in Research Triangle Park after concluding that it has ample room for expansion in its facility.

"We can probably add another 450 people in the building," Jim Captain, site executive for the Swiss company, said Friday. Credit Suisse has 950 full-time workers - a combination of employees and contractors - in its 211,000-square-foot building in RTP.

The company has sold back about 35 acres of undeveloped land plus designated "natural space" to the Research Triangle Foundation, which runs RTP. The selling price of roughly $3.2 million is the same price, on a per-acrebasis, that Credit Suisse originally paid.

Credit Suisse, which was lured to the state in 2004 with $14.4 million in state and local incentives, acquired the property in 2006 after announcing a major expansion. Captain said at that point the company didn't know how much space it would ultimately need.

The foundation didn't "want land sitting idle," said Liz Rooks, executive vice president at the foundation. "It gives us a prime site to market," she added. The foundation has nearly 600 acres left to sell in the 7,000-acredevelopment.