During her presentation, Hildesley noted that Westchester County has stated its intent to issue Requests for Qualifications to development firms interested in building a large biotech development, in partnership with the Westchester Medical Center, at the center's Grasslands campus in Valhalla. Another player in the biotech development arena is LCOR Inc., which has received approvals to build approximately 300,000 sf of new biotech space at its Landmark at Eastview complex. She said that there is room for all three projects to be built and succeed in coming years.

"Nearly a million sf of space is not an unrealistic need for this area in the next five years," she said. Hildesley also said that she is pleased that Governor George Pataki, in a speech on Feb. 12 before the Westchester County Association, expressed his desire to create a "Westchester Center of Excellence" that would involve state funding to promote biotechnology development in the county.

Hildesley said that biotech companies, if successful, "grow exponentially" and go from having 12 employees to 100 employees in a very short time and therefore need expansion space.

Right now, Westchester, due to the lack of available biotech space, is losing these companies to Connecticut, New Jersey, the Research Triangle in North Carolina and elsewhere, she asserted.

The New York Presbyterian Hospital project has received some opposition due to concerns about traffic and environmental impact. Several years ago, the hospital, in an attempt to obtain approvals on a different development plan for the 214-acre parcel, offered to make available a 60-acre tract of land to be used by the city as a public park. However, opponents of that plan wanted more property made available for open space and the project was never even officially sent to various city agencies for consideration.

When asked by globest.com whether to obtain the necessary approvals on its biotech proposal it might consider offering a large tract of land at its campus for the city to secure as a park, she responded simply that the park "was off the table."