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Issue: 983 Date: 6/25/2009
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Grand Opening Of BRDG Park Advances St. Louis Region And Its BioBelt Strategy
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| Participating in the ribbon cutting are, from left: Derek Rapp, CEO of Divergence; St. Louis Community College Chancellor Zelema Harris; BioResearch and Development Growth Park President Sam Fiorello; St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley; Donald Danforth Plant Science Center President & CEO Roger Beachy; Richard Sayre, Principal Investigator at the Danforth Center and head of the Enterprise Institute for Renewable Fuels and the Center for Advanced Biofuel Systems; Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise President & CEO Vicki Gonzalez; Bill Danforth, Chairman of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and Chairman of the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences; and Wexford President Jim Berens. |
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RCGA team was pleased to join RCGA Board members Dr. Bill Danforth, Chairman of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and Chairman of the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences; Dr. Roger Beachy, President & CEO of the Danforth Plant Science Center; Dr. Zelema Harris, Chancellor of St. Louis Community College; as well as Sam Fiorello, President of the BioResearch and Development Growth (BRDG) Park; Vicki Gonzalez, President & CEO of the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise; Jim Berens, President of Wexford Science+Technology LLC; RCGA Board member Charlie Dooley, St. Louis County Executive; and other regional business, civic and elected leaders, for the grand opening on Tuesday of the BRDG Park. The Park opened the first of its three highly-specialized new buildings.
Located on the 40-acre campus of the Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur, the world's largest plant science research institute, this first building is a 110,000 square-foot, four-story facility featuring state-of-the-art wet labs and office space. Already nearly 70% leased by Baltimore-based Wexford Development, the building's tenants include: Divergence; St. Louis Community College Center for Plant and Life Sciences; the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise; Monsanto; and Phycal LLC.
In addition to being situated at the national and international center for plant and medical science research -- the BioBelt -- BRDG Park is uniquely prepared to provide the "Research + Resources + Relationships" necessary to help fledgling companies span the transition from innovative ideas to tangible commercial businesses. Tenants not only have convenient access to the Danforth Center's technologically advanced greenhouse, growth chambers, microscopy and proteomics facilities, but also the intellectual capital of some of the world's top research scientists.
Sustainability was central to the design of Building I, despite the challenges of science labs that demand high energy use. St. Louis-based Tarlton Construction constructed the BRDG Park 1 building to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Core & Shell requirements, complying with all sustainable criteria in construction processes, design execution, and site management.
The original Battelle Plant & Life Sciences Strategy for the St. Louis region, co-sponsored by RCGA and the Danforth Foundation back in 2000, recommended focusing the development of specialized early-stage life sciences development in four locations in the region:
In the 330-acre University Park on the SIUE campus --- where the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center and the American Red Cross' Missouri-Illinois Blood Region and National Testing Lab are located;
In the 250-acre CORTEX Life Science District west of downtown --- where the CET, the CORTEX I Building and the recently-completed Solae HQ and R&D Center are located;At the Danforth Plant Science Center adjacent to the Monsanto Global HQ campus; andAt the Missouri Research Park in St. Charles County --- the Park now has more than 130 acres developed for high-tech and life sciences facilities and houses 17 tenant companies that employ more than 2,000 people.
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