Sounds of hammers and drills at the Fitzsimons BioScience Park Center’s new wing will soon quiet, replaced by the hum of laboratory equipment and the murmur of inventors and scientists.
The new 40,000-square-foot addition to the building at 12635 E. Montview Blvd., will host a grand opening July 25. Vicki Jenings, director of business relations for the FRA, said the four companies scheduled to move into the new space won’t be moved in yet on July 25, but the construction will be nearly complete.
The grand opening is a chance for outsiders to see the space, Jenings said, something they won’t be able to do when the businesses move in.
“Once they get in there, the public can’t go into the labs,” she said.
The first new tenant, Isogenis/Greffex, will move into its new space in early August, followed in September by Mitomics, Touch of Life Technologies and LightLabs.
The new wing will add about 40,000 square feet to the 60,000-square-foot home to the FRA and hub of the burgeoning Life Science District.
The project is an important step for the district, officials say, because it will provide space for more advanced companies that are ready to take the next step from the facilities the building currently offers.
When the four companies move from their current homes in the original wing of the building, Jenings said the FRA will look for new businesses to move into the space they vacate.
The “incubator” program helps biotech startups get their company off the ground without having to worry about office space, office equipment and labs. All of that is available on site.
But the current facilities don’t have room for companies to grow beyond the incubator phase. Steve VanNurden, president and CEO of the FRA, said officials are keeping the need to grow in mind as they finish the new wing.
While the new area will be about 90 percent filled by the four companies moving over from the new wing, VanNurden said keeping flexibility is important.
“You want to have space available, but you don’t want too much space available,” he said.
The FRA wants the space to be flexible enough that if a company has different needs that require changes or more space down the road, the organization can provide that.
“You want to create this ecosystem of being able to grow companies whether they are small or they are large,” he said.
The $8-million project started late last year.
The project is one of several changes for the organization, which has been around since 1996.
When the city of Aurora and University of Colorado collaborated to launch the FRA back then, the goal was to redevelop the old Fitzsimons Army Hospital into what is now the bustling Anschutz Medical Campus and the Fitzsimons Life Science District.
With that work largely complete, the last year refocused its efforts on the local bioscience industry, a move that included adding four new people steeped in the industry to the FRA’s board of directors.
The FRA also added VanNurden in June. Before coming to the FRA, VanNurden worked at the Mayo Clinic, where he helped launch several spin-off companies from the research center.