St. Louis advances in bio-world
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/28/2009
By Tim Bryant
Creve Coeur -- A developer's $36 million gamble on the region's biotech industry appears to be paying off.
The Bio-Research and Development Growth Park, which Wexford Science and Technology is building at the Danforth Plant Science Center, is set to open in June. Two agriculture science startup companies, a sliver of Monsanto Co. and part of St. Louis Community College are among initial tenants.
"We're optimistic about the project," said Mark Korczakowski, vice president of Baltimore-based Wexford. "It's meeting our goals, if not exceeding them."
The project represents a new phase in the region's life-sciences industry. Moving beyond just research, the project will serve startups intent on becoming commercially successful.
Joining Monsanto and the community college at the four-story project will be Divergence Inc., which is developing ways to fight parasites that attack crops, and Phycal LLC, which, among other things, turns algae into jet fuel.
In addition, the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, an incubator for plant and life sciences companies, will move across Olive Boulevard from Monsanto's main campus to the bio-research park. Nidus will offer life-sciences startups small labs and offices.
The industry already employs 16,500 people in St. Louis and, according to officials here, has more plant science PhDs than anywhere else. In comparison, Anheuser-Busch InBev has 4,400 workers in St. Louis.
Sam Fiorello, the Danforth center's chief operating officer and president of the new project, said he expects the bio-research park to grow in the next seven years to three buildings with about 400 scientists developing ag-related biotech products. Such highly paid bio-brainiacs are coveted by local economic development officials.
"St. Louis is fortunate that with the loss of jobs in other sectors, life sciences ... are adding jobs and making investments, when everything else is pretty much on hold," said Denny Coleman, president of the St. Louis County Economic Council.
Project officials say that, as a bonus, community college students will get on-site training as lab techs, which are in short supply here.
St. Louis isn't close to competing with Boston, San Diego and North Carolina in the biotech business, but is moving up with projects like the bio-research park, Coleman said.
State and local incentives were essential to Wexford's decision to take on the project. St. Louis County provided tax abatement, while the state supported construction with $1 million in tax credits. The city of Creve Coeur and the Ladue School District also pitched in with tax credits.
"It's very important for these younger companies to be able to have a place with as low a cost as possible," Coleman said.
Wexford, already with five research parks elsewhere, is building the new project on nine acres leased from the Danforth center.
"Obviously, there's still risk but the Danforth center, the local county, municipalities and the state have been very helpful and very supportive," Korczakowski said.
Even before the project opens, a forum will be held May 18-19 to bring together startups, venture capitalists and big companies such as Monsanto, Bunge North America and ADM.
Fiorello and Korczakowski said that while growing and keeping ag-related startups is important, the new bio-research park also is meant to get companies from Israel, Brazil and China to establish U.S. operations in St. Louis.
"Danforth has world-renowned reach, and we're hoping to bring those companies to the park," Korczakowski said.
