GeneProt will lease the available 60,000 sf of space in the 80,000-sf Tech III building, currently under construction. The company will also build an adjacent four-story, 40,000-sf building for its corporate headquarters and has secured 3,200 sf elsewhere in the Technology Centre to meet its immediate R&D needs.

Project managers, HR reps and other administrative personnel have already moved into temporary space, and the complete move-in is expected to be finished by early next year. GeneProt also has the option of expanding further within the Technology Centre.

The facility will include what GeneProt CEO Cedric Loiret-Bernal, MD calls "the first large-scale proteomics discovery and production facility in the U.S. It will also house the country's largest commercial supercomputer."

Loiret-Bernal says that the company opted for the North Brunswick site because of proximity to its pharma industry client base, as well as to academic institutions. Incentives were a factor as well, including "a generous construction allowance in excess of $6 million. This greatly supports our speed-to-market strategy and allows us to apply resources elsewhere, especially in recruitment and R&D."

According to NJEDA executive director Caren Franzini, the authority has also awarded GeneProt a Business Employment Incentive Program grant worth an estimated $3,271,000 over 10 years. "The grant is based on the total state income taxes expected to be paid by the new employees that GeneProt plans to hire.

"Our Technology Centre strategy is to bring new enterprises in our Commercialization Center together with more established technology companies to stimulate and cultivate technological research and discovery," Franzini explains. "GeneProt will add significantly to the mix."

NJEDA started developing the Technology Centre, with legislative support, in 1995. The 50-acre property is located along Route 1 in the Princeton Corridor. To make space more affordable for tenants, the NJEDA will finance the cost of tenant improvements up to $100 per sf. Tenants may also qualify for other NJEDA low-cost financing programs.