Developer chosen for East River Science Park.

California-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. has been selected to develop an 870,000 s/f commercial bioscience center on the east side of Manhattan.

The new East River Science Park will be built on a city-controlled site on the campus of Bellevue Hospital which the city will lease to Alexandria to develop the largest commercial bioscience center in New York City.

Alexandria responded to a Request for Proposals issued by the Economic Development Commission in November 2004 to develop the city-owned site, located in Manhattan's Kips Bay neighborhood on the northern portion of the Bellevue Hospital Center, just south of NYU between East 28th and 29th Streets, and First Avenue and the FDR Drive.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made the announcement this week, saying that the new facility would jumpstart the city's commercial bioscience sector by attracting the world's leading healthcare and pharmaceutical companies, and providing needed expansion space for the ity's existing companies.

"Since the beginning of our Administration, a key component of our economic development strategy has been to diversify New York City's economy and create new jobs," said Mayor Bloomberg.

"This state-of-the-art facility will allow us to take advantage of our enormous scientific base and world-class research institutions to attract both start-up firms and established bioscience companies to New York City."

The privately-financed, $700 million project is expected to create more than 2,000 permanent jobs and 4,000 construction jobs over the next 10 years. The total economic impact of ongoing operations of the development project is expected to be more than $350 million a year.

The East River Science Park will capitalize on its prime East River location and its proximity to many prominent healthcare institutions such as Beth Israel, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Mount Sinai, New York University (NYU) Medical Center, Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell.

In the project's first phase, Alexandria will build two laboratories and office towers totaling 542,000s/f of space. The first 242,000 s/f building on the site's southeast corner, just north of Bellevue's hospital tower, will include 14 floors of laboratory and related office space, a conference center and cafe.

The developer plans to start the second 300,000 s/f building four months after construction of the first building begins. This second building will be located on the site of the obsolete Bellevue laundry building, and will include laboratory and office space for early-stage companies, additional office space for bioscience venture capital firms and street-level retail.

The plan also calls for a glass-enclosed retail area with 43,000 s/f of publicly accessible open space, including a riverfront esplanade. The developer will build a parking garage below the two buildings to accommodate 520 parking spaces, with 400 reserved for Bellevue.

Alexandria plans to break ground in 2006, with initial tenant occupancy of the first building in 2008 and the second building in 2009.

The project's second phase calls for a 330,000 s/f laboratory and office building located on a parcel of land north of the site. Construction of this building can only begin after the site is vacated by the City's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Additional open space and 200 more parking spaces are also planned for this phase.

Alexandria is a leading real estate investment trust focused principally on the development and acquisition of properties with office and laboratory space.

Alexandria focuses on the principle of "clustering," with assets and operations strategically located in all major life science hubs. Alexandria's clients consist of some of the world's leading edge research and commercial entities, such as universities and not-for-profits, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life science product, service, biodefense research entities and government agencies. Alexandria owns and operates 127 properties comprising more than 8.2 million square feet of office and laboratory space.

"We are honored to be partnering with the City of New York and the other key stakeholders, and to be the vanguard for the creation of the first commercial life science cluster location within the heart of Manhattan," said Alexandria CEO Joel S. Marcus.

"Alexandria is proud to be the designated developer for this truly unique and innovative commercial life science destination. Together with the City, EDC and the New York healthcare community, we look forward to carrying out the vision of forming a bioscience community that will be equipped with all of the components to foster the great medical discoveries of the future."

"Despite our tremendous scientific assets, New York City has never captured its fair share of the commercial bioscience industry," said EDC President Alper. "The development of the East River Science Park will help us reverse this trend by offering companies room to expand right here in the City. Developing a commercial biotech cluster will allow our institutions to forge stronger ties with the bioscience industry, help our academic institutions attract top talent and create many new high-paying jobs."

The New York City Investment Fund, the economic development arm of the Partnership for New York City, has committed $10 million in funding to support the East River Science Park. The Fund has worked closely with the Bloomberg Administration to encourage development of the City's bioscience industry. It has organized a consortium of the City's top academic medical research institutions, as well as prominent venture capitalists, bankers and private equity investors to support this project and other initiatives to generate jobs in the bioscience sector.

"Today's announcement of Alexandria Real Estate Equities as the developer of the East River Science Park is the culmination of a highly competitive process that demonstrates that New York is finally emerging as a world center for commercial bioscience," said Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City. "We look forward to working closely with the City and the developer to ensure the success of this project."