Phases 2 and 3 will also be 80,000 sf each and will cost approximately $22.5 million each. These phases will house additional research space and provide for extensive business incubation for new spin-off companies generated through the research at the Biotechnology Research Center.

The Research Center is a public/private partnership between SUNY Upstate Medical University, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the Metropolitan Development Authority of Syracuse and Central New York and private sector companies such as Welch-Allyn, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Albany Molecular, G.C. Hanford, International Paper and O'Brien and Gere.

"This state-of-the-art Research Center -- combined with the new Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems -- will provide a tremendous boost for the Central New York economy," Governor Pataki says. "High-technology and biotechnology will have a major impact on the upstate economy and the economy of the entire state, bringing thousands of good, high paying jobs to New Yorkers. The investment we are making today is another example of how New York State is not waiting for the future -- we are building the future, right here in Central New York."

The planned Biotechnology Research Center will be a "green" facility with rooftop green houses; building on the planned $37-million Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems at Syracuse University.

The Syracuse Center of Excellence is one of five Centers of Excellence statewide focusing on critical emerging high-tech fields, including the Albany Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics, the Rochester Center of Excellence in Photonics, the Long Island Center of Excellence in Wireless Internet and Information Technology and the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics. About $750 million in private sector and federal support has already been pledged statewide to the Centers of Excellence, New York State officials note.