Allina Hospitals and Clinics' contribution of $1 million over five years allows the enterprise to surpass its $9-million fundraising goal and begin to outfit the 125,000-sf former warehouse building with lab space. The money helped finalize the project's financing along with St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly's agreement to recommend the city co-sign a $6-million bank loan for the nonprofit corporation created by the University of Minnesota to launch the venture. The city council will consider the proposed financing package this week.
Plans call for the university's corporation to spend $21 million converting a former warehouse on University Avenue at State Highway 280 into office and lab space for new and biotech firms, as well as established companies. The incubator has letters of interest from 14 companies out of 21 spots, and several companies and economic development entities already are leasing office space in the building. Architectural Alliance of Minneapolis is doing the design for the renovation work and Kraus Anderson, the Minneapolis-based general contractor, is overseeing the project.
"The architectural work is done and the contractor is ready to go," says Bob Elde, head of UEL and dean of biological sciences at the University of Minnesota.
Other corporate donors are Xcel Energy, the lead donor with a $2-million contribution; medical device companies Medtronic, Guidant, Boston Scientific and SurModics; major St. Paul companies like Ecolab and 3M; the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney; and the University of Minnesota and the City of St. Paul, who are founding partners of the enterprise.
The financing to buy and outfit the building with Wells Fargo should be signed by early December, Elde says. Once the incubator is up and running--completion is expected around the middle of next year--the eight or so companies that now have lab space on the University's St. Paul campus will have to exit their space, he says.
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