The East River Science Park will be built over the next three years in Manhattan's medical and life sciences corridor just north of Bellevue Hospital and adjacent to New York University Medical Center. It will be the largest commercial biotech development in New York City.

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ew York City's life science efforts figure to get some major momentum as the city's signature commercial campus is developed over the next few years. The project targets the city's space shortage for commercial biotech development.
   The East River Science Park (ERSP), an 870,000-sq.-ft. (80,800-sq.-m.) facility, is being developed as a public-private partnership on city-owned land on the Bellevue Hospital campus. City officials estimate the US$700-million project will create more than 2,000 jobs over the next 10 years.
   Developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities will build a first phase involving two laboratories and office towers with 542,000 sq. ft. (50,350 sq. m.). Alexandria, a California-based REIT that specializes in development and operation of laboratory and office space, plans to break ground in 2006, and occupancy of the first building is planned for 2008.
   ERSP will be in the midst of the city's top academic medical research institutions and major hospitals such as Beth Israel, Columbia University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York University Medical Center, The Rockefeller University and Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
   Alexandria has a portfolio of nearly 9 million sq. ft. (836,100 sq. m.) of lab space in major U.S. markets. CEO Joel Marcus says his company uses a sophisticated proprietary programming approach to developing science parks, carefully recruiting companies.
   "No one's ever built this kind of commercial center in New York," Marcus says. "We're partnering with the city to make this happen. Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg has made this project one of his top three priorities for his next term. It's going to be very user-friendly to the neighborhood and will have great access to NYU and Bellevue.
   "We anticipate tenants will represent all the sectors of life sciences," he continues, "with some small, medium and larger companies locating not their main campus or headquarters but research facilities."
   New York City and its surrounding metro region have plenty of biotech strengths with 25 medical research institutions, more than 70 hospitals and more than $1.3 billion in National Institutes of Health research funding.
   The diversity of New York's population is a big asset for biotech and pharmaceutical firms, says Mennato Forgione, director of business development for Clinilabs, a Manhattan-based electronic data management firm that serves the sector.
   "The diversity of the population pays off for companies exploring new frontiers in clinical research and genetics," Forgione says. "The new biotech park will bring even more companies into the area.
   Biotech-pharma expansions are happening outside the city as well. OSI Pharmaceuticals is expanding into a new headquarters in Melville in a $20-million project. The company will move into a 60,000-sq.-ft. (5,575-sq.-m.) building formerly occupied by Swiss Air. OSI will add 250 jobs over the next three years.