By all accounts, the University of Minnesota’s ambitious Biomedical Discovery District and a planned adjacent private research park are proceeding nicely.
Last month, the university christened the Winston and Maxine Wallin Medical Biosciences Building, named after former Medtronic CEO and his wife. The Board of Regents Facilities Committee also approved preliminary designs for a 280,000 square foot cancer and cardiovascular research center. Construction of the $200 million facility will begin next year and hopefully open its by 2013.
In 2011, the city also plans a series of improvements to a large section of Granery Road, which forms the district’s northern boundary.
But one major problem looms in the distance: what to do about the railroads? Several miles of track owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific run parallel to Granery Road and cut through the heart of a state-designated bioscience subzone, including a big chunk of industrial land north of the railroads.
Moving the railroads will make life much easier for the university and developers. First of all, fixing Granery Road is a must- the road forms the backbone of the district and likely to be a major transit way for the 1,000 employees, including up to 165 researchers who need easy access to the area.
In addition, organizers of the Minnesota Science Park, which is developing land south east of the Biomedical Discovery District, envision extending Granery Road all the way into St. Paul, linking the research park with University Enterprise Laboratories, an incubator facility that houses the school’s Office for Technology Commercialization.
Secondly, heavy freight trains rumbling by research centers housing sensitive equipment and experiments is probably not a good idea. In fact, the university and Metropolitan Council, which operates public transit, bitterly clashed over construction of the Central Corridor light rail line for this very reason.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Transplanting the railroads won’t be easy. The project would require millions of dollars in federal and state aid. Complicating the matter is a major part of tracks is leased by Minnesota Commercial Railway, which reportedly has not been keen on the idea.
Stay tuned folks. It’s gonna get interesting.
