PROVIDENCE – The center of the biotechnology startup cluster Rhode Island leaders hope to grow will be on Richmond Street in Providence’s Jewelry District, where the state’s first life sciences incubator is taking shape.
Called Ocean State Labs, the incubator is the biggest move yet by the Rhode Island Life Science Hub, the quasi-state agency created last year to promote biotech growth through public-private partnerships.
What to know about the incubator labs
The incubator labs, which companies can use to get their ideas and technologies off the ground, will be located in 30,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the building under construction at 150 Richmond St. in Providence that will also be home to a new State Health Lab. The State Health Lab is planned for the lower floors.
The building is being built by developer Ancora L&G and is expected to be finished in the middle of next year.
The new State Health Lab proposed by the McKee administration would be housed in a 212,000-square-foot building at Richmond and Clifford streets in the state-owned Route 195 Redevelopment District.
“Ocean State Labs is a pivotal moment for Rhode Island and the Life Science Hub and it is just the beginning,” Neil Steinberg, chair of the Life Science Hub, said at a State House news conference Tuesday. “The time is now to start, to build this path forward.”
The state seeded the Life Sciences Hub with $45 million in federal pandemic aid and the Hub is investing $9 million of that in Ocean State Labs.
The 195 Redevelopment District Commission, which manages the state-owned land where 150 Richmond Street is located, chipped in another $1 million.
“We know we are coming into a difficult budget series here. I want to reinforce how critically important it is that we don’t lose our resolve,” 195 Commission Chair Marc Crisaffulli said, “that we continue to invest in the long term. That is the only way we are going to be successful.”
RI Life Sciences Hub Chair Neil Steinberg speaks at State House unveiling of Ocean State Labs plan with, from left, Gov. Dan McKee, House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi, Senate Finance Chair Louis DiPalma and Brown University President Christina Paxson
Not the only labs going up in Providence
Just down Richmond Street from the Health Lab building where the incubator is planned, Brown University is planning its own seven-story, 300,000-square-foot life sciences research facility.
Brown, which has leased space in 150 Richmond Street from Ancora, has agreed to sublease the 30,000 square feet being used by Ocean State Labs at no cost. Brown estimates the value of the leased space to be $13 million over 10 years.
The $10 million from the Life Sciences Hub and 195 Commission will pay for build-out of the incubator and equipment. Ancora will staff the labs.
“The real benefit from this will be two to five years down the road. That is when we will see real companies come, new therapies being developed,” House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, the top political driver of the life sciences hub, said. “And I say, bring it on.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence to get state’s first biotech incubator