UA hopes area could be bait for country’s best, brightest

It would be the largest infill project in Tucson’s history.

It would extend the influence of the University of Arizona south down Kino Parkway into the South Side.

It would redefine the nature of central Tucson, provide green belts and open space and create a thriving commercial center.

And it would transform a litter-strewn site of desert scrub in the heart of the Old Pueblo into a high-tech slice of Silicon Valley.

Lofty hopes, big-time goals and long-term ambitions have all been attached to the proposed 65-acre University of Arizona Bioscience Park at South Kino Parkway and East 36th Street.

The principal purposes of the project are nothing less than to attract the best and brightest biotechnology minds in the world to Tucson and to establish a partnership with the leading national and international companies in biotechnology research.

“What we are trying to address with the new Bioscience Park is bringing online a location, a place, a set of facilities that can, in fact, both manage the startup of new companies and licensed companies spinning out of university research and attract bioscience companies into the region from around the world,” said UA Associate Vice President for Economic Development Bruce A. Wright, who is playing the lead role in advancing the park.

But before that can happen, many hurdles must be cleared. First among them is to find a deep-pockets philanthropist to bankroll the project’s $25 million to $30 million first phase.

UA President Peter Likins and Wright are “engaged in sensitive discussions” with a potential philanthropist who they hope will donate a substantial sum toward building costs, Wright said.

Though a far-reaching draft plan for the Bioscience Park was recently prepared for UA by a Seattle architectural and planning company, the proposal could still be classified as pie in the sky.

“The concept is a dream scenario for that property,” said City Councilman Steve Leal. “But there is a long way to go.”

After more than 20 years, the draft plan calls for the park to have 32 buildings, including a series of three- to six-story research labs and office structures, a high-tech high school, a 12-story hotel and conference center, student housing and an open-space system of greenways and courtyards to provide a campus setting.

“We looked at the types of buildings necessary to support the bioscience industry,” Wright said. “The real key ones that drive this are large, highly competent, high-tech, biocontainment buildings where you can not only do work in a research setting, but also in a commercial production setting.”

Land where the project would be built is owned by a partnership that includes home builders KB Home and Lennar/U.S. Home and a commercial and retail development group led by Toronto-based Eastbourne Financial. Those developers bought the 360-acre site from Sinclair Oil Co. a year ago for $53 million.

UA intends to gain the 65 acres to build the bioscience campus by trading 132 acres at the Science and Technology Park at South Rita Road to the home builders, operating as 5151 LLC. Developers. They plan to build homes, an outdoor regional mall, neighborhood shops, restaurants and stores adjacent to the Bioscience Park.

The land swap has not yet been made. The trade depends on property at the Rita Road site that would go to the developers being annexed into the city and zoned for residential use. An annexation hearing is scheduled later this month.

“We’re down to language issues and legal issues,” said KB Home President John Bremond of annexation negotiations with the city. “The annexation will open the gateway for the exchange to occur.”

Top city officials are supportive of the plan. Mayor Bob Walkup has predicted the project would be the cornerstone of an “economic renaissance” for the South Side.

City Manager Mike Hein said the property represents one of the “last bastions of urban infill” and that it “can have a dramatic impact not only on the surrounding area, but the entire region.”

Wright said if the university receives title to the land in August or September, planning, design and site preparation for the bioscience campus could begin in January. He said that at the earliest, construction of the park’s first phase could be completed in 2009.

The first buildings on the drawing board are a 150,000- to 200,000-square-foot lab/office building and the hotel/convention center. The hotel/convention center would be built by private interests. Funding for the lab/office structure would come from UA, but from private donations, not taxpayers.

The initial tenant in the first lab/office would be the Critical Path Institute, which is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, private enterprise and academia to find ways to get safe drugs to market faster.

“C-Path will attract the drug development world to come to Tucson to learn these new methodologies and to train their drug scientists to be part of this,” Wright said. “That becomes the magnet for drawing companies from all over the world into this park.”

Larry Aldrich, chief operating officer of C-Path, called the Bioscience Park “a superb vision” and said C-Path is “willing to take on the challenge” articulated by Wright.

Aldrich said creation of the Bioscience Park presents “a rare opportunity to do something great.”

As for the hotel/convention center, Wright said several major hotel chains are interested in participating in the project, though he wouldn’t name them.

“Part of what is involved in these successful parks is that you have hospitality, hotel and conference and meeting room facilities because these high-tech companies are highly interactive,” Wright said. “They are constantly bringing scholars, collaborators, vendors, suppliers and investors to the site, and they need great facilities to house those people.”

A hotel near Kino Boulevard and Interstate 10 would have other advantages. Its proximity to Tucson Electric Park would appeal to spring training baseball fans of the Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. It also would be in an ideal position to benefit from the annual gem show and the Tucson rodeo.

Subsequent lab/office buildings at the Bioscience Park would be funded by financing that would be paid off through long-term tenant lease arrangements in which ownership of facilities might eventually revert to UA, Wright said.

Another key component in plans for the park is a public high school.

“What we want to do is put an educational training component in this park so we can begin to build a cadre of skilled labor here in Tucson to service this industry,” Wright said.

Roger Pfeuffer, superintendent of Tucson Unified School District, has been given the authority by the TUSD board to start planning a biotechnology high school at the park, Wright said.

“The idea is to have state-of-the-art laboratories so kids could get hands-on experience and not just read about it in a textbook,” he continued. “In the evening the school might be used for adult education, so Pima Community College or UA could do training programs for adults looking to enter the job market.”

The proposed site of the Bioscience Park is considered ideal.

“This location is perfect because it’s close to the university, downtown and the veterans hospital and Kino Hospital, which will be important parts of this whole bioscience thing,” he said. “It also has great access to the airport and two interchanges off I-10.”

If the location is so good, why hasn’t it been developed already?

Sinclair Oil bought the land, once a municipal airfield, long ago as a possible site for a Little America hotel. Those plans never came to fruition, and the company simply sat on the property.

“Several developers made offers to Sinclair Oil to buy the property, but Sinclair was rich and could afford to wait,” Leal said. “Eventually, changes were made in the company, and they decided to sell.”

Ray Clarke, president and CEO of the Tucson Urban League, said most of those living in distressed areas near the park are hoping the project would provide jobs. He also said neighbors are generally supportive of the increased retail opportunities the development promises. The Urban League’s office is at 2305 S. Park Ave., just a couple blocks from the proposed park.

“The university has included and involved people in the neighborhood from the beginning and given them an opportunity to provide input and feedback on numerous occasions,” Clarke said. “Residents of this area want to be included and are looking for employment opportunities for themselves and their families.”

BIOSCIENCE PARK PLAN

The University of Arizona Bioscience Park would be a 65-acre, high-tech campus that would include research laboratories, office buildings, technical high school, hotel and conference center and open-space system.

Key elements of the Bioscience Park plan include:

● Science Research Laboratories: The eastern portion of the campus along Kino Parkway would be composed of four large laboratory buildings. These three- to six-story buildings, which would include an inner courtyard above two levels of underground parking, would be the university’s most visible statement along Kino Parkway.

● Office buildings: Along the western edge of the property would be a series of blocks containing three- to five-story office buildings, each with the potential to incorporate additional residential units. These buildings would share services access, surface parking and interior courtyards above subsurface parking levels.

● Technical high school: The northern portion of the campus would include a 60,000-square-foot technical high school where students would learn skills that would qualify them for research jobs.

● Hotel and conference center: The 300-room, 12-story facility would accommodate visiting faculty and researchers. A five-level parking garage is planned for visitors to the hotel and adjacent office buildings.

● Open-space system: Composed of a series of greenways and courtyards, the system would provide a natural setting for the campus. A north-south corridor of open space throughout the campus would serve as a dynamic interactive space for park employees, residents and visitors.

BIOSCIENCE PARK DATA
● Project size: 65.7 acres

● Lab/office space: 2.4 million square feet

● Total building area: 3.1 million square feet

● Number of buildings: 32

● Open space: 17 acres

> Watch a discussion on the new biopark, click on this story at tucsoncitizen.com

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