UNC Pauses $228M Research Facility Amid Federal Funding Uncertainty

A rendering of the Translational Research Building. Image: Courtesy of UNC-Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has announced a pause in its plans to construct the $228 million Translational Research Building, citing growing concerns about the reliability of federal funding. The decision comes as the university grapples with the fallout from the termination of federal research grants and broader uncertainties surrounding future grant funding policies.

“Due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding federal research funding, the University has paused plans for the Translational Research Building. We are currently evaluating our research infrastructure, including our research facilities, and will continue to monitor funding trends. Scenario planning is underway to help us remain prepared for future opportunities,” UNC Media Relations said in a statement to Lab Design News.

Originally slated to break ground in 2025, the proposed 174,000-sf, seven-story facility was expected to expand much-needed laboratory capacity on campus and strengthen UNC’s position in commercializable research. The project gained approval from the Board of Trustees in January, with construction targeted for completion in 2028. Lord Aeck Sargent was the designer.

However, as Nate Knuffman, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations and Chief Financial Officer, explained during a May 21 Board of Trustees committee meeting, the university has been compelled to reassess its capital investment strategy due to an alarming decline in research funding. Since January, 104 federal grants awarded to UNC have been terminated. While the exact financial impact of these canceled grants is unclear, they have led to the loss of funding for the equivalent of 77 full-time research positions—an unsettling development, even within the context of UNC’s large research enterprise.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has paused construction plans for its Translational Research Building, due to concerns about the reliability of federal funding. Image: Courtesy of UNC-Chapel Hill

These terminations reflect a broader trend that has taken shape under the Trump administration, which has proposed significant changes to the federal research funding landscape. Most notably, the administration attempted to impose a 15 percent cap on Facilities and Administrative (F&A) cost recovery for federal grants—a drastic cut from the 55.5 percent rate UNC had previously negotiated with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of its primary funding sources. Although a federal judge has temporarily blocked the implementation of this policy following legal challenges, institutions like UNC remain deeply concerned.

UNC had planned to finance the new building through its Facilities and Administrative (F&A) funds—indirect costs built into sponsored research grants that support infrastructure and compliance operations tied to research activities. With that funding stream now under threat, university leaders have opted to pause the facility’s development until they can better assess long-term risks.

So far, in fiscal year 2025, UNC has secured 1,409 federal research grants totaling $623 million—down from 1,454 grants worth $706 million during the same period last year. In response, the university’s Board of Trustees approved a new budget in March that includes a $50 million reserve to help cushion the impact of further potential reductions in federal support.

The shelving of the research facility marks the first significant delay in new lab space at UNC since the completion of its genetic medicine building in 2008. While the university has not ruled out revisiting the project in the future, the current funding landscape presents a sobering reality for research institutions across the country—one in which long-term planning must now account for heightened uncertainty at the federal level.