Bioplex center of high-tech future for Pine Bluff, Jefferson County.

What is the Bioplex and what does it mean for Pine Bluff, Jefferson County and Arkansas?

In the simplest of terms, The Bioplex is a technology, research and production community being created in northern Jefferson County. In actuality, the project is a collection of plans and concepts still in the refining process.

"The Bioplex will mean jobs - jobs offering the higher levels of pay that are sought and prized by competitive and growing communities all across the nation," says Derrill L. Pierce, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County, the organization in the forefront on the project.

Located between Pine Bluff and Little Rock, the Bioplex falls within an existing technology "corridor" identified for its immense growth potential. The vision for the Bioplex is rooted in the development of a physical place where:

* Business, industry, governmental agencies and academia can freely interact in a creative environment.

* Regulatory agencies can work in concert with industries that manufacture products requiring government oversight, thereby dramatically reducing time to market.

* World-class research scientists can interact with leaders in education and the private sector.

* The intellectual power of those assembled can instruct and inspire a new generation in southeast Arkansas and across the South through emerging distance-learning technologies.

* The next-generation work force can be trained and developed in on-site facilities with access to research installations across the nation.

* Science, technology and government can serve as catalysts in shaping the future of the region.

* Allied service and support operations can mushroom.

"After years of concentrated effort by local business and civic leaders, additional necessary components also are falling into place," says Jack A. McNulty, a member of the Bridges Young Matthews & Drake law firm and co-chairman of the Alliance's Bioplex Task Force.

"The Bioplex is not a pipe dream," McNulty adds.

Arsenal, NCTR at Core

Of primary importance in the development of the Bioplex are two prominent, contiguous installations maintained by the federal government in Jefferson County: the Army's Pine Bluff Arsenal and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's National Center for Toxicological Research.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal has a long history in support of national defense. In operation since January 1942, the arsenal is a major manufacturing, warehousing and distribution complex of about 15,000 acres northwest of Pine Bluff. Currently valued in excess of $1 billion, the arsenal provides more than 1,000 civilian jobs and infuses more than $50 million annually into the local economy.

NCTR's physical facilities include about 30 buildings valued in excess of $225 million, with more than $20 million in capital equipment. About 100 doctorate-level scientists, supported by another 500 contract and civil service personnel, are involved in more than 250 research projects. The annual operating budget tops $33 million.

NCTR, as it is commonly known, is evolving into Jefferson Laboratories, a consolidation of NCTR and four existing field laboratories of the FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs. The FDA's restructuring plan combines 18 nationwide research labs into five regional labs to be located in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle and Jefferson County. The plan calls for facilities in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit and Minneapolis to be relocated to the NCTR site when each current lease expires, beginning with the Chicago office in late 1997.

When fully operational, the Arkansas regional laboratory is expected to add at least an additional 150 doctorate-level scientific personnel, plus an expanded support staff. A total of $3.8 million in federal money was approved for the project by Congress in 1995, followed by an additional $13 million as part of the agriculture and rural development spending appropriation for 1997. Another $26 million will be needed in fiscal year 1998 to complete construction.

"A wealth of other resources already exists too," McNulty says. "To its added advantage, this area of the state also has in place significant public and private resources available as building blocks for the planned scientific enterprise."

Academic resources include the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Southeast Arkansas Technical College at Pine Bluff and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Arkansas Graduate Institute of Technology and the University of Arkansas School of Law, all in Little Rock. Area medical institutions with strong programs and interest in biotechnology include Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital, both in Little Rock.

Public, Private Cooperation

Public facilities such as NCTR and private facilities such as Redfield Laboratories are examples of the area's potential for developing a scientific community as well as a public-private technology interchange. Located in the community of Redfield in northwest Jefferson County, Redfield Laboratories is owned by Genzyme Transgenics Corp. of Framingham, Mass.

Major components of the current Bioplex development plan include:

* The Bioplex Center, a communications and technology transfer campus focused principally on next-generation telecommunications and biotechnology.

* The Technology Center, a system of public-private technology parks planned for development throughout the property.

* "Reinvention of Government," a proposal that the Bioplex become a demonstration site at which local, state and federal agencies can interact creatively with the academic community and the private sector.

* Expanded NCTR, resulting from the consolidation of Food and Drug Administration laboratories to the Jefferson location.

* Pine Bluff Arsenal, which, in addition to the availability of technical engineering expertise, could make flexible production capabilities available to private enterprise through federal technology transfer legislation.

* The Bioplex Loops, which will be new, controlled-access roadways planned to link development zones and Bioplex components.

* Bioplex conference facilities, a latter-stage development to expand the initial educational conferencing capability of The Bioplex Center.

* Research and development, another latter-stage component that will become feasible as the intellectual base expands and the labor force gains additional technical expertise.

How is The Bioplex progressing?

Fiber Park, the first major commitment from private industry to The Bioplex, was announced in September 1994, by officials of Southwestern Bell, who said the company would invest nearly $1.8 million to enhance the telecommunications infrastructure near NCTR in anticipation of The Bioplex. One of the first high-tech "fiber parks" to be announced in Arkansas by Southwestern Bell, all installations for the park were completed in late 1996.

Funding for a preliminary, land-use plan for The Bioplex was provided by a $25,000 Economic Development Administration technical assistance grant approved in late 1994. Local Partners in Progress II matching funds of $8,500 also helped finance the study. The development plan utilizes a phased construction approach to minimize initial infrastructure costs.

Land Needed

A critical component of the Bioplex project is the transfer of about 1,500 acres of excess arsenal land to the Alliance for infrastructure development. Transfer of the land from the Army has now been authorized by Congress. It is anticipated that title to the property will be obtained by the Alliance this year. The property consists of two parcels along the northern boundary of the arsenal flanking NCTR on both the east and west.

The in-progress expansion of NCTR's facilities and responsibilities already has generated millions of dollars in federal expenditures directly linked to the Bioplex's framework. "Additional funding is critical," Pierce says, "and Bioplex proponents will continue pressing for congressional appropriations."

Through a series of focus groups and briefings, the Alliance and NCTR have been successful in garnering support for The Bioplex from members of the state's congressional delegation and officials at various federal agencies, as well as leaders at all levels of state and local government. At the invitation of the Alliance, Pine Bluff and Little Rook civic leaders have met to explore ways in which the two communities can work more closely in support of the project. Bill Bridgforth of the Ramsay Bridgforth Harrelson & Starling law firm also serves as co-chairman of the Alliance's Bioplex Task Force.

The primary off-site improvement required for development of the Bioplex will be better access to the site from U.S. Highway 65. The route proposed by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department would involve utilizing a U.S. 65 intersection, upgrading an existing roadway to its intersection with state Highway 365 at Jefferson and constructing a new four-lane highway into the Bioplex Center campus. U.S. 65 from Little Rock to Pine Bluff will be designated as Interstate 530 upon completion of an interstate-quality bypass south of Pine Bluff that is currently under construction.

Target companies in the biotech industry were identified in an earlier Ernst & Young feasibility study, and some of those companies have already expressed an interest in associating with the concept and will be solicited as early participants in The Bioplex.

"Pine Bluff and Jefferson County are on the threshold of an exciting period of economic growth and physical expansion rivaling that of the late 1960s and early 1970s," Pierce says. "When these high-tech jobs come - and they will - a skilled workforce must be ready and waiting. The Alliance has a plan for that too."