The Baltimore City Board of Estimates voted yesterday to lease a building from the state for five years and convert it for use as a life-sciences facility for growth-stage companies.
The state will spend $250,000 to renovate and upgrade laboratories in the Bard Building on the harbor campus of Baltimore City Community College.
The city will pay $291,000 annually, but expects to recoup $182,000 annually through lease payments from tenants.
While Baltimore will run a deficit on the project, it hopes the venture will pay off in creating jobs and giving biotechnology and life-sciences companies a boost, said M. J. Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development arm.
"This is a strategic move. It's an investment in the future," Brodie said.
The city, he said, expects between three and five second-stage growth companies at a time to occupy the Bard Building.
Brodie said early discussions with corporate leaders in the area's life-sciences industry indicated that there would be strong interest in leasing laboratory space in the building.
Pub Date: 1/09/97
