Rochester Minnesota Helps Drive Development of Bioscience Industry

Rochester, Minnesota, is about to begin the design of the Minnesota BioBusiness Center. This facility will be located downtown in close proximity to Mayo Clinic and the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics. The facility is being designed to provide more than 150,000 square feet of office/lab space for companies who could benefit by being near Rochester's bioscience assets.

These assets are comprised of the Mayo Clinic, one of the nation's leading destinations for patient care and medical research. Mayo and the University of Minnesota have teamed up to form the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics aimed at positioning Minnesota as a world leader in developing biotechnology and medical genomic applications. The Partnership's facility in downtown Rochester will be completed this summer. IBM Rochester is the key development site for IBM's worldwide Healthcare and Life Sciences Industry. BlueGene, a new family of super computers conceived to unlock the mystery of unfolding proteins, is designed and built in Rochester. Plans to develop a University of Minnesota campus downtown are well under way as well. This will be a highly-focused, signature, tier-one research institution with programs focused on Biosciences and Health Sciences, Engineering, Computer Sciences and Informatics as well as Business Studies and Entrepreneurship. Development of the Minnesota BioBusiness Development Center is a community project aimed at providing affordable office/lab space for firms who could benefit by being in close proximity to these bioscience assets. The center recently received $8 million in funding from the legislature. Future tenants may qualify for tax exempt status. If so, these tenants will pay no property tax, no sales tax, and no state income tax through 2015. Development of these assets has created a lot of exciting momentum.

As part of the overall effort to create the right environment, Rochester has recently begun the development of an Urban Village. This is a mixed use development plan for downtown. A number of 4-5 story buildings are envisioned providing retail space at street level and office and condo living on the upper floors. The first condo project was announced recently and is a 60 unit $20 million project. We are leaving no stone unturned as we create what we believe will be one of the leading BioBusiness Centers in America.

For more information on University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic Partnership, go to:
www.minnesotapartnership.info

For more information on IBM's Worldwide Healthcare and Life Sciences Industries, go to:
www-03.ibm.com/industries/healthcare/index.jsp

For more information on Rochester Higher Education go to:
www.ohe.state.mn.us/rochester/index.cfm