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NEW ORLEANS - Construction will begin this summer on the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, ending a two-year delay on the high-tech, $60-million state economic development project designed to be a cornerstone of the citys post-Katrina recovery. We are moving forward with what is really the foundation of a knowledge-based economy for the city, said Aaron Miscenich, executive director of New Orleans BioInnovation Center Inc. It's an exciting time. The state-of-the-art research and office center, designed by Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, is expected to open in March 2009, said Miscenich. The post-Katrina delay, however, was costly. In the six years since the 2002 project unveiling by the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, the price tag has doubled from $30 million originally. Part of this increase is due to the Katrina factor that many construction projects have encountered, but some of this increase is also due to the delay, said Miscenich. Because of the specialized nature of the facilities, inflation in the bioscience area can run as high as 1 percent per month. Boosters have long touted the bioscience center as an investment in creating a high-tech, information-based economy in New Orleans, where the industrial economy decline began when manufacturing went overseas to reduce overhead. The facility will lure medical and pharmaceutical companies to the city and bring new activity to a depressed stretch of downtown, advocates say. This is a major investment that will bring new jobs and new life to Canal Street, and spur other growth in the area, said Downtown Development District President Kurt Weigle. The facility will generate 200 new jobs, Miscenich said. Biotechnology, which involves studying or engineering biological organisms, is not new to New Orleans. Even before state economic development officials began working on the BioInnovation Center Ñ one of three such facilities in the state Ñ the industry was steadily growing in medical labs at Tulane and Louisiana State University, where cancer and other cellular diseases are studied. In 2003, federal and private grants for bioscience research done in New Orleans exceeded $180 million, according to the Bring New Orleans Back post-Katrina economic development plan. In 2005, the National Institute of Health awarded New Orleans research facilities $129.8 million, representing 74 percent of all funding NIH awarded in Louisiana, according to the BNOB report. The BioInnovation Center is also expected to attract private bioscience startups in need of labs and office space. Joseph Lovett, managing general partner of the Louisiana Fund, a venture capital fund that specializes in biotech sector investing, is expected to help bring these companies to the city and find funding to support the research. There are venture capitalists and institutions out there with deep pockets and a commitment to investing in bioscience and stem cell research, said Lovett. The center has a good chance of bringing more of these (investors) and the companies they invest in to New Orleans. Lovett plans to start at the Canal Street science center when he moves his office from a LED-funded biotech center on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge to the New Orleans facility in 2009. Lovett isnt the only biotech businessman expected to migrate from the LSU Louisiana Emerging Technology Center to the new Canal Street facility, said Arthur Cooper, LETC executive director and a supporter of the New Orleans facility. We have companies here that are growing to the point that they need other space, and over time I expect there will be tenants that want to expand to New Orleans, said Cooper. The facility will include a 65,000-square-foot wet lab business incubator with offices and conference rooms and a 10,000-square-foot lab for the Louisiana Gene Therapy Research Consortium and 2,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. There will also be a 3,000-square-foot internal courtyard, said architect Mark Ripple of Eskew+Dumez+Ripple. Courtyard greenery will be visible from the street through the centers transparent glass facade, Ripple said. The glass-faced science center will be sheathed in sunscreens to allow solar panels to create energy while allowing inhabitants to control light levels. At night the transparent windows will allow the building to glow, Ripple said. Ripple, a New Orleans native who grew up shopping at the department stores that once lined Canal Street, said the center merges the citys past and future. Canal Street represents the spine of our city, which for too long has relied on its past to attract tourists and business, said Ripple. This center represents (the citys movement) into a future based on knowledge and innovation. |