ARDSLEY, NY-As New York’s Capital Region emerges as the “Silicon Valley of the East,” biotech activity is also showing strength downstate in the Hudson Valley. On Monday afternoon, elected officials and the real estate community gathered at the 159,000-square-foot Ardsley Park Life Science Campus where the building got a new owner, San Diego-based BioMed Realty Trust, Inc., and a new tenant, Acorda Therapeutics Inc. During the ceremony, Acorda signed a 138,000-square foot 15-year lease deal for laboratory and office space here at 410-412 Saw Mill River Rd.

Under the deal, Acorda is relocating all its employees from its current facility in Hawthorne, NY to the campus. According to a spokesman for BioMed, the life-science REIT purchased the site for $18 million and will invest a total of $36 million in the entire property over the next 12 months. The site--formerly home to OSI Pharmaceuticals before being bought out by Japanese firm Astellas Pharma in mid-2010--will include infrastructure upgrades and renovations, as well as an additional 500,000 square feet for future development.

Many local representatives said the relocation is another sign of the Hudson Valley’s transformation into an epicenter for high-paying, high-skilled biotech jobs. Acorda-who develops therapies and medications for neurological disorders--currently employs 159 people, and plans to add up to 190 new jobs here.