The Audubon Business Center has 60,000 square feet of core and shell laboratory space for established and new biotech companies and 10,000 square feet of ground level space for retail firms. The Audubon Center is the first incubator facility designed to stimulate the growth of the biotechnology industry in New York.
To attract and support emerging companies as tenants, the Audubon Business Center will offer special amenities, such as reduced rents, for qualifying firms. Approximately 40 percent of the lab space will be set aside for start-up companies. Audubon Center management will help tenants locate financial and venture capital sources, provide market and product analysis, prepare business plans, deal with licensing and regulatory matters, and recruit and train technical personnel. The Center also will have an on-site business assistance center to counsel entrepreneurs interested in starting a biotechnology or other business in the Washington Heights/Inwood neighborhood.
"Developing new companies is key to developing a strong biotech industry in New York City," says Mitch Gipson, executive director of the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park, where the Audubon Business Center is located. "Many of the small firms that make up the commercial biotech industry are in need of a strong business support structure, which we can provide," says Gipson, who is responsible for commercial development.
Designed by Davis, Brody & Associates, the six-story Audubon Center is located directly across from Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center on Broadway between W. 165th and 166th Sts. Its proximity to the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center will streamline industry collaboration with Columbia in basic and clinical research.
"Audubon's proximity to the medical center and Columbia University will be a real benefit to start-up companies," says William A. Polf, deputy vice president for external relations and strategic programs. "Columbia's technology transfer program has helped make it a national leader in licensing inventions to industry, which makes it an ideal place to foster collaboration between academic and commercial scientists."
Columbia is one of the top three universities in the country in terms of revenue raised through technology transfer activities. It earned approximately $32 million in fiscal year 1994, up 30 percent from the previous year. Columbia Innovation Enterprise has created a network of venture investors in the biomedical field to assist start-up companies and will advise Audubon Center tenants on how to develop ideas and market patents and licenses.
"Our office can also advise tenants about what technologies are available for licensing that would be useful to start-up companies," says Jack Granowitz, executive director of Columbia Innovation Enterprise. "We also can arrange research and consulting collaborations with researchers at the university."
Audubon tenants will have access to University facilities, such as laboratories, libraries, databases, dining and recreational facilities, and audio-visual services. Building services include a centralized 24-hour security and controlled reception access, parking, loading dock, janitorial services, shared 500-square-foot conference room, and duplicating machine. Interim space at Columbia's Morningside campus is immediately available until construction of the Audubon Center is completed.
The Audubon Business Center is the first structure in the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park, a five-building, $300 million complex currently under development. When completed, the Audubon Park will house more than 700,000 square feet of university and commercial research space. Construction will begin in late 1994 on the Audubon Park's second building and first academic research facility, the Center for Disease Prevention. It is scheduled for completion in early 1997.
Inquiries regarding leasing space in the Audubon Business Center should be directed to Mitch Gipson at 795-3100.