AURORA | The new wing at the Bioscience Park Center is still a few weeks away from completion, but the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority has already lined up its new tenants.
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The four companies — Mitomics, Touch of Life Technologies, LightLabs and Greffex — aren’t just moving into new digs, however. They are “graduating,” moving from the FRA’s incubator facility into the current building, where many began as fledgling start ups, into the new accelerator facility, where officials say they hope the companies can take the next step forward.
Cary Gummelt, owner and president of LightLabs, said the company was looking for more space than its current 300-square-foot location in the Park Center could offer.
“We were looking for something more permanent and something that was quite a bit larger,” he said.
The company, which sells medical and scientific supplies primarily to customers on the nearby Anschutz Medical Campus, looked at other locations but always wanted to stay in the Fitzsimons Life Science District, he said.
Aside from being about four times of the size of their old spot, the new 1,200-square-foot location is ideal because LightLabs maintains that close connection to its customers, he said.
“It’s perfect for us because our customers are at the medical campus,” he said,
Because LightLabs wants its new location to be only minimally finished out, Gummelt said he hopes to be one of the first companies to move into the new wing in early July.
Other companies are slated to move in later in the summer and fall.
Vicki Jenings, director of business relations for the FRA, said that as the new companies move from their old locations in the incubator side of the building at 12635 E. Montview Blvd., the FRA is looking to bring new start ups into the space they leave.
“We have received interest and are currently negotiating with four new businesses to occupy the Backfill space created by the relocation,” she said.
Jenings declined to name those companies because of the ongoing negotiations.
The new wing under construction at Montview and Quentin Street 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.
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.
Reach reporter Brandon Johansson at 720-449-9040 or bjohansson@aurorasentinel.com