Scottsdale OK's $3M for Biotech Startup

SCOTTSDALE, AZ-Scottsdale city officials have given the green light to a $3-million lending agreement that will allow the Translational Genomics Research Institute to begin construction on a biotech laboratory on the Mayo Clinic campus.

The Phoenix-based research group won unanimous council approval Tuesday night to build a $25-million biotech research facility on land owned by the clinic at 13400 E. Shea Blvd. Under the lending agreement, which will fund start-up costs, T-Gen will repay $3 million over seven years at an interest rate of 2.5%.

Plans call for construction of a 100,000-sf research facility, about a quarter of which will house T-Gen’s Center for Translational Drug Development Center with the remaining space devoted to use by the Mayo Clinic, which could lease the space to other research firm. The facility is set to open on the 180-acre campus by the end of next year. T-Gen also is developing a biotech campus in downtown Phoenix.