NYC bids to become biotech hub

On Wednesday, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative will officially open operations in an abandon World War I military supply warehouse. The Brooklyn Army Terminal, as it's known, will be home to a number of bioscience companies and organizations. New York City has invested $35 million in revamping the space, which it hopes will attract high-value R&D jobs to the area. "This is a down payment on an industry that we think is going to be a major tax generator for both the city and the state for many years," said Seth W. Pinsky, president of the city's Economic Development Corporation.

New York has been hit particularly hard by the ongoing financial crisis, as some of the biggest banks on Wall Street have collapsed. The push to attract biotech jobs is part of the city's plans to diversify into other industries. And the Brooklyn Army Terminal project is just the beginning. The city is developing a $700 million biotech complex known as the East river Science Park, which will have more than 1 million square feet of office and lab space. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

Despite the fact that New York has an enormous amount of medical science talent, it has a small share of the biotech company pie. The city usually loses out to biotech hubs like Massachusetts and San Francisco where the cost of doing business is much lower.

- read the New York Times article

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